SWINDON South MP Robert Buckland is one of more than 40 Conservatives calling for an independent system of press regulation to be introduced.

They say, in a joint letter to The Guardian, that the Leveson Inquiry into press ethics has exposed ‘fundamental weaknesses’ in the current system of self-regulation.

Lord Justice Leveson is due to make recommendations on the future regulation of the press and conduct between the press, politicians and police.

Prime Minister David Cameron has committed himself to implementing them.

The letter reads: “After eight months, 650 witnesses and 6,000 pages of evidence submitted to the Leveson inquiry, we can be clear about two things.

“Firstly, that a free press is essential for a free society. Secondly, that there are fundamental weaknesses in the current model of self-regulation which cannot be ignored.

“No one wants our media controlled by the government but, to be credible, any new regulator must be independent of the press as well as from politicians.

“We are concerned that the current proposal put forward by the newspaper industry would lack independence and risks being an unstable model destined to fail, like previous initiatives over the past 60 years. These concerns are shared by the National Union of Journalists.

“We agree with the prime minister that obsessive argument about the principle of statutory regulation can cloud the debate.

“Instead we must do what is necessary to create a genuinely independent system.”