Regulation of the press must ‘err on side of freedom’

Future regulation of the press should “err on the side of freedom”, British foreign secretary William Hague has warned, before Lord Justice Leveson’s eagerly anticipated reform proposals.

Hague said he was a “big supporter of press freedom” but wanted to read the Leveson report before giving his verdict.

He dismissed suggestions that prime minister David Cameron had already made up his mind to reject state regulation, saying “none of us” had yet seen Lord Justice Leveson’s recommendations which are to be published on Thursday.