Rishi Sunak has tonight been urged to support an amendment in the House of Lords which would give parliament a veto on foreign states owning UK media outlets. Tina Stowell, a former Leader of the House, has written to the Prime Minister today ahead of her amendment to the Digital Markets Bill being debated next Wednesday by fellow peers. It comes two days after a letter in support of Stowell’s amendment, organised by Robert Jenrick, was signed by more than 100 Tory MPs.
The spur of this amendment is the proposed takeover of the Telegraph and Spectator titles by the UAE-owned RedBird IMI. Yet in her letter to Sunak, Stowell stresses that this ‘isn’t just about the potential acquisition of those important newspaper titles.’ Rather this situation has exposed the fact that ‘in law there is nothing that clearly prohibits the acquisition of a UK news organisation by a foreign power or organisations under significant foreign government control.’
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