All parties unite in bid to stop BSkyB takeover

RUPERT MURDOCH was urged to bow to the will of the British parliament yesterday after it emerged all three main parties are set to back a call for him to abandon his takeover bid for BSkyB.

The Tories and the Liberal Democrats said they would be supporting a motion tabled by Labour leader Ed Miliband when it comes before MPs today.

The text insists it is “in the public interest for Rupert Murdoch and News Corporation to withdraw their bid for BSkyB”.

Miliband said: “I welcome news that the government says it will support our motion.

“It is now for Rupert Murdoch to recognise the strength of public feeling and the will of all the major parties.”

The development came as the Prime minister David Cameron his Lib Dem deputy Nick Clegg and Miliband prepared to hold talks last night on the phone-hacking scandal.

Labour has called a debate on the row on one of the regular opposition days, when they determine the subject for discussion in the House of Commons.

News Corp’s bid to buy the 61% of shares in the satellite broadcaster which it does not already own was referred to the Competition Commission by Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt on Monday.

Support for the motion will give Hunt more strength in sticking up for public opposition to the takeover, Miliband said.

“Jeremy Hunt will get a chance to make a decision about the public interest at the end of this process, once it comes back from the Competition Commission,” Miliband said.

“We think that if the House of Commons expresses a clear view about what is in the public interest — for the bid to be withdrawn — then that will help him in making the right call.”

Hunt is not expected to take part in the vote today.

Cameron’s spokesman said the government was “intending to support” the call today.

Asked whether the government believed News Corp should heed the will of parliament, the spokesman replied: “Ultimately, that is a decision for News Corp, but we would always expect people to take seriously what parliament has said.”

Meanwhile, in a scathing letter to Murdoch yesterday, three senior Lib Dems demanded he give up efforts to gain full control of BSkyB.

Deputy leader Simon Hughes, party president Tim Farron and culture spokesman Don Foster wrote that recent revelations had “shocked and sickened the British public, and rightfully so”.