The Government should be very reluctant to bring in tough new laws to regulate the press following the publication of the Leveson Inquiry, Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said.

Mr Pickles said the press was working towards a way of offering proper recourse for those with complaints, telling Sky News the right of the press to expose corruption must be protected.

He also warned ministers must be very careful about introducing statutory regulation, should Lord Justice Leveson recommend a new independent watchdog to monitor the press.

He said: "I think it is really massively important to ensure we have freedom of press in this country - it is good at exposing corruption and it is good at going to places where other press wouldn't.

"I think it was Thomas Jefferson who said that for a free society to operate, the river of a free press had to flow without restriction."