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Law 'must back press regulation'

More than half of voters think a new system of press regulation should be backed by law, according to a YouGov survey for the Media Standards Trust.

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Gerry McCann: 'we hope for real change' in media regulation

Campaigners for statutory underpinning will hold a conference in Westminster tomorrow when Gerry McCann will tell ministers that "Leveson without the law is meaningless".

Mr McCann, father of missing Madeleine McCann, will say:

Kate and I had the misfortune to suffer from everything the press could throw at us.

The Leveson package, including the legal underpinning, is the minimum acceptable compromise for us, and judging by the polls, for the public at large too. Leveson without the law is meaningless.

When the Prime Minister promised to protect those who have been 'picked up and thrown to the wolves' by this process, we hoped for real change.

The idea that Kate and myself, and the other victims, might have relived our darkest days in the full glare of the media, for no good reason, is just galling.

– Gerry McCann

Over half of voters think press regulation should be backed by law

More than half of voters think a new system of press regulation should be backed by law, according to a poll Credit: Dan Kitwood/PA Wire/Press Association Images

More than half of voters think a new system of press regulation should be backed by law, according to a poll published today.

53% of poll respondents felt that statute was necessary if the new regime was to be effective and independent, while 23% thought legal backing would put at risk the freedom of the press, the YouGov survey for the Media Standards Trust found.

Almost three quarters (74%) said that Lord Justice Leveson's proposals for reform should be implemented.

However, over half of respondents said they had followed the issue either "not very closely" or "not at all".

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