Minister: The Leveson Inquiry is 'chilling' free speech

THE Leveson Inquiry into press standards is having a "chilling" effect on free speech, a top Cabinet minister said yesterday.

Education Secretary Michael Gove said laws and principles already existed to guard against the type of activities that initially gave rise to the probe.

He also warned there was a danger of regulation being imposed by "judges, celebrities, and the Establishment... all of whom have an interest in taking over from the press as arbiters of what a free press should be".

He added: "The big picture is that there is a chilling atmosphere towards freedom of expression which emanates from the debate around Leveson."

Former journalist Mr Gove said that with the rise of the internet, newspapers were under pressure like never before.

In a speech in London, he said: "That is why whenever anyone sets up a new newspaper, as Rupert Murdoch has done with a Sunday Sun, they should be applauded and not criticised."

He said politicians had "nothing to gain and everything to lose from fettering a press which has helped keep us honest".

David Cameron set up the Leveson Inquiry after accusations of phone hacking at the now-defunct News of the World.

Mr Gove said law-breaking by the media should be "vigorously policed", but warned inquiries such as Leveson can spawn official bodies that present "a cure worse than the original disease".

k.schofield@the-sun.co.uk

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Minister: The Leveson Inquiry is 'chilling' free speech