During the 2010 election campaign Nick Clegg, as leader of the Liberal Democrats, made some bold statements about the need for libel reform: "Our libel law and practice have turned a country once famed for its traditions of freedom and liberty into a legal farce where people and corporations with money can impose silence on others at will … Libel tourism is making a mockery of British justice, with foreign plaintiffs able to bring cases against foreign defendants when the publications in question may have sold just a handful of copies in England".
His speech today outlining a commitment to libel reform, while seeming to echo rather than extend what a number of other political figures, including Jack Straw, have said in recent years is still to be warmly welcomed – not only because it appears to demonstrate the Lib Dems will not resile from all their manifesto commitments but most importantly because, in acknowledging the need to restore the UK’s international reputation for free speech by promising to publish a draft defamation bill, he recognises what many have been saying for a long time – namely that freedom of speech in the UK has been seriously curtailed in recent years. Read the story here.
Editor’s Note: On Dec. 14, in response to a libel lawsuit filed against the Kyiv Post in London, the newspaper blocked United Kingdom users from accessing its website because British courts have taken a wide interpretation of jurisdiction in these matters. The libel law there is draconian in its restrictions on free speech and a movement is under way to change the libel law. More information can be found from The Libel Reform Campaign. RosUkrEnergo co-owner Dmytro Firtash filed the lawsuit in response to a July 2 Kyiv Post article "Gas trade leaves trail of lawsuits, corruption."
