Police chief: Leveson could stop whistleblowers

A former senior Scotland Yard officer has warned that corruption may fail to be exposed under plans to regulate the police and the media.

Kevin Hurley, who was recently elected as Surrey’s new police and crime commissioner, has told of his fears that Lord Justice Leveson’s proposals will stop whistleblowers from speaking to the press and harm the public interest.

Today, Mr Hurley said: “How did the press find out about the MPs’ expense scandal? How did we find out about patient care deals, and others between HMRC and major corporate failures?

“The media find out about them very often because people come forward and tell them about it.”

Later he added on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: “My concern is we are creating a culture across the whole public sector where people won’t talk to the media about what’s going on.

“We are a liberal democracy and the press should be able to build relations and people should be able to speak to the press. I’m trying to raise the import of the freedom of the press and freedom of public officials to come forward and expose wrongdoing.

“I’m concerned that with press regulation that’s not going to happen.”

Following Lord Justice Leveson’s report on press regulation, the Home Office last week outlined new plans to make it easier for police to seize journalists’ notebooks and computer records, and to make it more difficult for journalists to conceal the identity of confidential sources.