THE SNP Government will today publish its review into phone hacking after it emerged the party could hold the key to press reforms across the UK.
The report is expected to outline plans to help victims of press misbehaviour in Scotland.
Yesterday, Prime Minister David Cameron appealed to smaller parties in Westminster, including the SNP, to help push through controversial changes south of the Border.
But Labour and the Liberal Democrats are also expected to look for votes from the party when they unveil alternative plans later today.
It follows Mr Cameron's shock announcement yesterday that there will be a Commons vote on the issue on Monday.
At a hastily arranged press conference in Downing Street, the Prime Minister surprised many by saying cross-party talks on the issue had collapsed.
The dramatic turn means SNP MPs could now decide the future of newspaper regulation in England and Wales despite the issue being devolved in Scotland.
Mr Cameron set out Tory plans to push for payouts of up to a million pounds for victims and a system that would still let newspapers regulate themselves.
But he admitted he could lose a vote in Westminster's hung parliament and appealed to politicians from all parties to back the plans, which he said were not perfect but would offer a good deal for victims.
Campaigners condemned the plans, accusing the Prime Minister of a "shameless betrayal of victims of press abuse".
It also emerged the collapse of the talks had come as a surprise to Mr Clegg and Labour leader Ed Miliband. The Deputy Prime Minister was told during a telephone conference call yesterday morning minutes after he finished his weekly radio phone-in show Call Clegg.
Mr Miliband said the Prime Minister had made a "historic mistake" which was not in the interests of the victims.
Under the Conservative's plans a Royal Charter would underpin a new system of self regulation.
To ensure it has teeth "exemplary damages" of up to one million pounds could be applied.
However, the Prime Minister insisted he did not want statutory underpinning of the system and press freedom would be protected. The move was the "fastest possible way" to deliver "the toughest press regulation that this country has ever seen", Mr Cameron said.
And he insisted he had not been nobbled by newspaper owners, pointing to the high levels of damages he planned.
But Brian Cathcart, executive director of press regulation campaign Hacked Off, said the Prime Minister had "chosen to throw his lot in with powerful national newspaper groups" and his proposals would pave the way for a system little different from the much-criticised Press Complaints Commission.
Representatives of newspaper publishers including News International, Mail Group, Telegraph Group and Northern & Shell issued a joint statement welcoming Mr Cameron's initiative and promising to have a new regulator running as soon as possible.
SNP MP Pete Wishart said: "Regulation of the press is an issue which Leveson said himself is devolved to Scotland. However this is a very important debate which we will be following with interest."
The review published in Scotland today comes from the expert panel set up to consider Leveson's recommendations, headed by former Solicitor General, Lord McCluskey. The Scottish Government plans further talks with other parties on what steps to take next.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article