Foreign governments will be blocked from owning UK newspapers and magazines amid concern over the proposed UAE-backed takeover of The Daily Telegraph.
Labour has come out against the proposed UAE-backed takeover of The Daily Telegraph, warning that 'foreign governments should not own national newspapers' He said: 'We will amend the media merger regime explicitly to rule out newspaper and periodical news magazine mergers involving ownership, influence or control by foreign states.
'With regard to any live case, if it is still ongoing when the new changes come into effect, the Secretary of State will continue to follow the process set out in the existing regime and will also apply the new measures that will be set out in the Government amendments,' he told peers. 'This will deliver additional protections for a free press, a pillar of our democracy and a priority for the Government.