We write as a group of cross-party MPs concerned about the proposed takeover of the Telegraph, the Sunday Telegraph and the Spectator by RedBird IMI, a fund that is 75 per cent financed by UAE.
We welcome your decisions thus far to instruct Ofcom and the Competition and Markets Authority to investigate the takeover. There are well-evidenced concerns about the potential for editorial influence and censorship by the UAE Government that merit scrutiny.
The free press is a key pillar of our democracy. If major newspaper and media organisations can be purchased by foreign governments, the freedom of the press in the UK has the potential to be seriously undermined. No other democracy in the world has allowed a media outlet to be controlled by a foreign government. This is a dangerous Rubicon we should not cross.
As you will be aware, a group of crossbench peers in the House of Lords led by Baroness Stowell, Lord Anderson, Lord Robertson and Lord Forsyth have tabled an amendment to the Digital Markets Bill which would prevent the acquisition of a UK news media organisation by a foreign government without the approval of Parliament. This would provide an additional and crucial bulwark for press freedom in this country. There is widespread support for the amendment in the House of Lords.
As MPs following the debates in the other place closely, we strongly urge the Government to accept the amendment in the House of Lords.
Yours sincerely,
