- By Brian Wheeler
- Political reporter
Image source, Getty Images
Foreign governments will be banned from owning UK newspapers and news magazines, the government has said.
It follows criticism of a proposed takeover of the Daily Telegraph and Spectator by a United Arab Emirates-backed investment firm, RedBird IMI.
The government said the proposed legislation would “deliver additional protections for a free press”.
A spokesperson for the UAE-funded group said they were “extremely disappointed by today’s development”.
Labour has indicated it will back the change, which will be in an amendment to a new law being debated next week.
There had been growing cross-party pressure on the government to act and it was facing a possible defeat in the House of Lords on Wednesday from peers who wanted to see urgent action.
Announcing the ban, Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay said the new law would “rule out newspaper and periodical news magazine mergers involving ownership, influence or control by foreign states”.
The government will bring forward an amendment to the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill – which has its third reading next week – to block such deals, he added.
Lord Parkinson also confirmed the buyout ban would not apply to broadcasters.
It comes as the investment fund RedBird IMI continues its push to take control of the Daily and Sunday Telegraph newspaper titles and Spectator current affairs magazine, after paying off the debts of its previous owner.
The fund is 75%-owned by Sheikh Mansour, who is deputy prime minister and vice president of the UAE, and best known in the UK for transforming Manchester City Football Club.
The government’s new law could apply to the Telegraph Media Group takeover if the law was passed swiftly, Lord Parkinson suggested.
But sources close to the matter have told the BBC’s Business Editor Simon Jack the bid looks likely to fail, amid growing political opposition.
Wednesday’s announcement raises serious questions over whether the RedBird IMI takeover can be revived.
In a statement reacting to the move, a spokesperson for the firm said they “remain committed” to investing in global media, adding: “We will now evaluate our next steps, with commercial interests continuing to be the sole priority.”
They continued: “To date, Redbird IMI has made six investments across the UK and US, and we believed the UK’s media environment was worthy of further investment.
“As with each of our deals, we have been clear that the acquisition of The Telegraph and The Spectator has been a fully commercial undertaking.”
The other bidders for the newspapers include hedge fund tycoon Sir Paul Marshall, who owns GB News, Daily Mail owners DMGT, and Rupert Murdoch’s News UK.
Andrew Neil – who is chairman of the Spectator and has been strongly critical of the proposed takeover – said the government’s intervention on Wednesday meant the UAE bid “now looks dead in the water”.
Lord Moore of Etchingham, a former Daily Telegraph editor, said there should have been “such a rule from the start” in order to provide “clarity” on proposed takeovers.
Baroness Stowell, the chair of the Communications and Digital Committee and a former Conservative cabinet minister, has led cross-party calls to prevent foreign powers acquiring UK news media organisations.
She told peers: “We can’t ignore that public trust in news, Parliament and the political class has fallen significantly in recent years.
“Allowing foreign governments to own such a critical and sensitive part of our nation would damage public confidence in all of us yet further if it was allowed to happen.”
An alternative amendment tabled by the Tory peer to the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill was felt by both the government and Labour to be unworkable.
Lord Parkinson said the government hoped instead to make the change at a later stage of the bill.
Explaining how it might work, he said the government would refer proposed media mergers to the Competition and Markets Authority where there are “reasonable grounds” to believe a deal “would give a foreign state or body connected to a foreign state, ownership, influence or control”.
He continued: “The Competition and Markets Authority would be obliged to investigate the possible merger and if it concludes that the merger has resulted or would result in foreign state ownership, influence or control over a newspaper enterprise, the secretary of state would be required by statute to make an order blocking or unwinding the merger.”
