Is the UK a democracy whilst Fred Goodwin gets a super injunction and we have our libel laws?

Posted on

As the Guardian reports very recently:

The controversial former bank chief Sir Fred Goodwin is the latest high profile figure to obtain a superinjunction, it has emerged.

The existence of the measure — which bans the press from reporting that an injunction has been obtained — can be revealed after a backbench Liberal Democrat, John Hemming, raised the issue in the Commons.

"In a secret hearing this week Fred Goodwin has obtained a superinjunction preventing him being identified as a banker," said Hemming, the MP for Birmingham Yardley.

Hemming, who used parliamentary privilege to avoid the legal ban on reporting the use of superinjunctions, asked: "Will the government have a debate or a statement on freedom of speech and whether there's one rule for the rich like Fred Goodwin and one rule for the poor?"

News that Goodwin has obtained a superinjunction — over issues that cannot be reported — has raised further questions about the use of the measures.

Let's be clear - we don't really know what the super injunction was about.

What we do know is the rich can gag the press using such injunctions and libel laws.

And that undermines democracy.

Super injunctions must go and libel laws need radical reform.

Now.


Thanks for reading this post.
You can share this post on social media of your choice by clicking these icons:

You can subscribe to this blog's daily email here.

And if you would like to support this blog you can, here: