U.K. Government To Call For News Corp. Withdrawal of BSkyB Bid
July 12, 2011 5:37 pm ET by Media Matters staff
With the confirmed support of Prime Minister David Cameron and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, a motion to be tabled tomorrow by Labour Party leader Ed Miliband calling on News Corp. to withdraw its BSkyB bid will likely pass with strong support from all parties. While the statement will be a non-binding expression of opinion from Parliament, it demonstrates mounting public pressure on News Corp. due to the News International phone hacking scandal. From The Guardian:
The government will support Labour's motion asking MPs to call on Rupert Murdoch's News Corp to withdraw its BSkyB bid in a Commons debate on Wednesday.MPs from all sides seem likely to back the motion, which reads: "The house believes that it is in the public interest for Rupert Murdoch and News Corporation to withdraw their bid for BSkyB."
[...]
Shortly after the wording of the motion emerged the prime minister's spokesman said: "We are intending to support it."
Asked whether the government believed that 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." [The Guardian, 7/12/11]
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