The draft Defamation Bill does not go far enough to address the “unacceptably” high costs of libel cases, according to the committee charged with reviewing the bill.

In the report, issued today (19 October), the committee of six MPs and six peers recommends that the proposal to promote early dispute resolution outside of court should be taken a step further and made enforceable, with “a presumption that mediation or neutral evaluation will be the norm.”