Hacked Off welcomes today’s commitment by David Cameron and Ed Miliband to seek cross-party agreement on responding to the Leveson Inquiry’s report on press regulation, and urges the leaders to avoid unnecessary delay.

The report will be published tomorrow, and Mr Cameron said at Prime Minister’s Questions that the status quo in the press was unacceptable and in need of change.

He said: ‘I think we should try to work across party lines on this issue. It is right to meet other party leaders about this issue, and I will do so.’ Ed Miliband agreed to this, saying the Leveson report provided a ‘once-in-a-generation opportunity for real change’. The cross-party talks will also include the Liberal Democrats, whose leader, Nick Clegg, has expressed his support for this approach in the past.

Professor Brian Cathcart, director of Hacked Off, said:

The inquiry was established on the basis of cross-party agreement and it is very good news that party leaders are going to work together on the response to the inquiry report.

We trust that talks between leaders will not be used as an excuse for delay, since all three leaders told victims of press abuses last week that they wanted to see prompt action on regulation.