Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Nick Clegg to give separate Leveson statement

Nick Clegg will make his own statement on Leveson in the Commons today after the Prime Minister has spoken. Party sources were saying yesterday that this would only happen if the two men disagreed on the government’s response to the report. The Lib Dems want to back the rapid creation of a statutory backstop for newspaper regulation, while David Cameron does not want to back any press law, at least for now.

This is probably the biggest clue we’ll get as to the content of the Leveson report before the embargo lifts at 1.30pm. But it doesn’t necessarily mean a big split over the outcome: the coalition cabinet committee will meet at noon to discuss the full response, and there may well be greater unity over this than initially appears. A Lib Dem source tells me: ‘We’re not talking about a massive coalition split and we do think its important that all party leaders talk about it.

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