Royston MP backs inquiry into News of the World phone hacking
THE MP for Royston has welcomed the Government’s inquiry into allegations of phone hacking at The News of the World.
Oliver Heald spoke in the parliamentary debate this week and called for an official probe into the claims.
The allegations have led to the tabloid’s closure which will publish its final edition on Sunday.
Mr Heald says the shutting of the 168-year-old paper reveals the scale of the claims but it has not made the issue disappear.
“It’s a welcome recognition of the scale of the issue and the public’s disgust at what seems to have been happening,” he said.
“It’s a good thing given the public’s feelings of disquiet and sense of disgust but we still need to get to the bottom of this and I welcome that the Government has set up a full inquiry.”
Prime Minister David Cameron announced two public inquires will look into the paper’s practices, with one investigating allegations of phone hacking and the other reviewing claims that police officers were providing information to reporters for money.
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It has come to light that journalists working for the Sunday paper may have targeted families of victims of the 7/7 terrorist atrocity, murdered teen Milly Dowler and the parents of the slain Soham girls.
Mr Heald said: “I think to hack the phones of celebrities and MPs is bad enough, but I think people up and down the country feel a sense of disgust when a child whose missing or an ordinary family who are having to deal with a death… are subject to accusations of phone hacking.
“The allegations are shocking to every family in the land, when Holly and Jessica went missing not so far from here everyone was feeling for their parents.”
Mr Heald also thought that the scandal could affect the relationship of MPs and their constituents as the scandal may have meant confidentiality was breached.
