Green Party members: help make the Media Freedom Act law
This page is for Green Party members and supporters, Green trade unionists and Green elected representatives. It sets out practical things you can do to help the Media Freedom Act become law.
The good news
At Autumn Conference 2026, the Green Party of England and Wales overwhelmingly passed its new Culture, Media and Sport policy. It includes four of the Act’s five measures in some form:
a levy on large social media corporations to fund local and independent journalism;
a cap on how much of the press any one company can own;
independent regulation;
a rule that the media should only platform think tanks that are open about who funds them.
What the policy doesn’t yet cover is where media owners live. That’s the Act’s first measure, and 65% of Green voters back a ban on foreign ownership of our national media (YouGov, July 2026). The working group that wrote the policy left it open for later development, and we’re discussing it with them.
Stay in touch
Join our mailing list: one email a fortnight, with one thing you can do.
Join our Facebook supporters’ group to keep up with news from the campaign.
Take action today
1. Ask your Green councillor to propose a motion
If you’re a Green councillor, know one, or have one representing you, please ask them to propose a motion formally endorsing the Media Freedom Act. It can go to any council: a parish, town or community council, a district or county council, a London borough or a unitary authority.
Suggested motion to full council:
This council formally calls for Parliament to back the Media Freedom Act, which will free British democracy from capture by a tiny group of billionaire media owners.
We note that the Act’s measures include:
Media owners must be legal UK residents
Free media ownership from domination by billionaires and corporations:
i. The maximum ownership share allowed of a national media outlet by any one individual or family is 20%.
ii. Companies can only own one national media outlet.
Distribute media ownership across society, with a levy on social media billionaires to fund local, independent, and cooperatively owned media.
UK media must be members of a press-abuse complaints authority independent of government and owners.
Requires think tanks covered by the media to disclose donations in real time.
On a council where Greens aren’t in the majority, our cross-party model motion on local news may be easier to pass. Councillors of every party have backed motions like it. Take it to your council →
Find your local councillor: gov.uk/find-your-local-councillors
Please tell us when it’s been proposed, and how the vote went: dmc@mediasovereignty.org.
2. Ask your Green MP, MS or MSP to back the Act
If you’re represented by a Green MP, Member of the Senedd or MSP, please email them and ask them to personally endorse the Media Freedom Act. Copy the email below and make it yours. A sentence about why it matters to you or about your local paper makes a real difference.
Find your representatives:
Members of the Senedd: senedd.wales/find-a-member-of-the-senedd
MSPs: parliament.scot/msps
To a Green MP
Dear [Name] MP,
I hope you are well.
As your constituent, I would like you to personally endorse the Media Freedom Act, which would free British democracy from capture by a tiny group of billionaire media owners, and to support its measures in Parliament.
I was delighted that the party’s new Culture, Media and Sport policy, passed overwhelmingly at Autumn Conference 2026, includes four of the Act’s five measures in some form. What it doesn’t yet cover is where media owners live. Parliament already stops foreign states from controlling our newspapers, but nothing stops a foreign-based billionaire, so I would especially welcome your support for the Act’s first measure.
We will only have a free and fair democracy when our media is freed from domination by a tiny, unrepresentative minority.
The Act has five measures:
Media owners must be long-term UK residents.
Frees media ownership from domination by billionaires and corporations.
i. Maximum ownership share of a national media outlet for one individual/family shall be 20%.
ii. Commercial companies can only own one national media outlet.
Distributes media ownership across society with a levy on social media giants to fund local, independent and cooperatively owned media.
UK media must be members of a press-abuse complaints authority independent of government and owners.
Requires think tanks covered by the media to disclose donations in real time.
I look forward to your reply.
Many thanks,
[Your name]
[Your address and postcode]
To a Green Member of the Senedd
Dear [Name] MS,
I hope you are well.
I would like you to personally endorse the Media Freedom Act, which would free British democracy from capture by a tiny group of billionaire media owners. I would also like you to table a motion in the Senedd calling on the UK Parliament to back the Act.
I was delighted that the new Culture, Media and Sport policy passed overwhelmingly at the Green Party of England and Wales’s Autumn Conference 2026 includes four of the Act’s five measures in some form. Wales deserves news made in Wales and answerable to Wales, and the Act’s levy would fund an independent trust for Welsh local, independent and co-operative news.
We will only have a free and fair democracy when our media is freed from domination by a tiny, unrepresentative minority.
The Act has five measures:
Media owners must be long-term UK residents.
Frees media ownership from domination by billionaires and corporations.
i. Maximum ownership share of a national media outlet for one individual/family shall be 20%.
ii. Commercial companies can only own one national media outlet.
Distributes media ownership across society with a levy on social media giants to fund local, independent and cooperatively owned media.
UK media must be members of a press-abuse complaints authority independent of government and owners.
Requires think tanks covered by the media to disclose donations in real time.
I look forward to your reply.
Many thanks,
[Your name]
[Your address and postcode]
To a Scottish Green MSP
Dear [Name] MSP,
I hope you are well.
I would like you to personally endorse the Media Freedom Act, which would free British democracy from capture by a tiny group of billionaire media owners. I would also like you to table a motion in the Scottish Parliament calling on the UK Parliament to back the Act.
The Green Party of England and Wales’s new Culture, Media and Sport policy, passed overwhelmingly at its Autumn Conference 2026, includes four of the Act’s five measures in some form. I hope the Scottish Greens will adopt similar proposals. Press regulation is devolved in Scotland, so Holyrood would have a direct say in how the Act’s complaints authority works here.
We will only have a free and fair democracy when our media is freed from domination by a tiny, unrepresentative minority.
The Act has five measures:
Media owners must be long-term UK residents.
Frees media ownership from domination by billionaires and corporations.
i. Maximum ownership share of a national media outlet for one individual/family shall be 20%.
ii. Commercial companies can only own one national media outlet.
Distributes media ownership across society with a levy on social media giants to fund local, independent and cooperatively owned media.
UK media must be members of a press-abuse complaints authority independent of government and owners.
Requires think tanks covered by the media to disclose donations in real time.
I look forward to your reply.
Many thanks,
[Your name]
[Your address and postcode]
Please let us know when you’ve written, and what reply you get: dmc@mediasovereignty.org.
3. Take it to your union
If you’re a Green and a trade unionist, please propose a motion at your union branch or trades union council formally endorsing the Media Freedom Act, and ask your branch to send it to your union’s national conference.
Affiliated unions hold half the votes at Labour Party conference. That makes union motions one of the best ways to get Labour to back the Act’s measures, as the Green Party has already backed four of them in some form.
Suggested motion for your union branch:
Trade Union branch xxx formally endorses the Media Freedom Act and calls on Parliament to pass the Act, which will free British democracy from capture by a tiny group of billionaire media owners.
We note that the Act’s measures include:
Media owners must be legal UK residents.
Free media ownership from domination by billionaires and corporations:
i. The maximum ownership share allowed of a national media outlet by any one individual or family is 20%.
ii. Companies can only own one national media outlet.
Distribute media ownership across society, with a levy on social media billionaires to fund local, independent, and cooperatively owned media.
UK media must be members of a press-abuse complaints authority independent of government and owners.
Requires think tanks covered by the media to disclose donations in real time.
This branch agrees to submit this motion to our national conference for endorsement.
Please tell us when it’s been proposed, and how the vote went: dmc@mediasovereignty.org. More on taking it to your union →
4. Back the next step in the party
The new policy covers four of the Act’s measures, but not where media owners live. Ask your local party to support a Spring 2027 motion on foreign ownership, which we’re discussing with the Culture, Media and Sport policy working group.
Download: [Draft Spring 2027 motion (PDF): coming soon]