People who bring vexatious legal cases to silence reporters should be made to pay into a defence fund for journalists, a Conservative peer has demanded.
Tina Stowell’s intervention comes after revelations by openDemocracy that the Treasury, while under Rishi Sunak’s leadership, allowed the head of a murderous Russian mercenary army to circumvent UK sanctions. Stowell has written to senior ministers Dominic Raab and Michelle Donelan to request better protection for journalists who face so-called ‘strategic litigation against public participation’ lawsuits, or SLAPPs.
On Wednesday, Stowell – who chairs the Lords’ Communications and Digital Committee – suggested the government introduce a SLAPPs defence fund, which would be partly filled either by perpetrators of SLAPP cases or by law firms that receive fines relating to cases.
