Responding to the news that John Prescott has resigned from the Privy Council in protest at what he calls an approach bordering on a “conspiracy to delay Press regulation”, a spokesman for Hacked Off said: “We applaud Lord Prescott’s principled decision to resign from the Privy Council.
“He is expressing the frustration felt by very many people, including victims of press abuses, at the stalling of much-needed change on grounds related to the supposed procedures of this obscure body.
“Victims only accepted the use of the opaque, mediaeval royal charter process very reluctantly, as it was clearly second best to a straightforward piece of legislation.
“It now appears that their fears were well founded.
“The decision to put the press barons’ charter through ahead of the parliamentary one is, as Lord Prescott says, a political move by sections of the government who want to buy time for their friends in the press.
“The policy of all parties in both Houses of Parliament is clear and settled. If a small group of newspaper editors and proprietors, who are not even representative of the industry as a whole, are able to drag the cross-party agreement into a ditch at this stage, it will be an affront to democracy.
“It is unprecedented in modern times for a Privy Councillor to resign as an act of protest. We hope that the Government now recognises the strength of feeling and takes steps to act urgently, before the hacking trials start in September.”
