Liberal Democrat members: help make the Media Freedom Act law
This page lists positive actions that Liberal Democrat members, supporters, Green Party Trade Unionists, or elected Green Party politicians can take to help the Media Freedom Act become law.
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Take Action Today!
Ask your local party or authorised organisation to submit the motion below supporting the Media Freedom Act for debate at the 2027 Liberal Democrat Spring Conference.
If you are a Liberal Democrat Councillor, submit a motion to your local authority asking it to endorse the Act.
If your local MP, MS or MSP is a Liberal Democrat, email them to ask them to personally endorse the Act and support it in Westminster, the Senedd and the Scottish Parliament.
Details on how to do these actions are below:
Motion for Spring Liberal Democrat Conference
If you are a Liberal Democrat Party member or a member of a Lib Dem authorised organisation (AO), then please ask your local branch or AO to endorse the following motion, which includes all 5 measures of the Media Freedom Act, for submission to the 2027 Spring Conference.
The submission deadline is 1pm, 13th January, 2027.
Please let us know if you have done this and what the result was.
Freeing Liberal Democracy from Billionaire Media Capture
Or
The Great Liberal Media Reform Act
Conference Notes That:
Ownership of the United Kingdom’s national news media (press, broadcast and online) is concentrated in the hands of a tiny number of individuals and corporations, most of them based outside the UK, giving them enormous unaccountable power to dominate and control our politics.
Parliament has taken a very modest step to bar foreign states from controlling more than 15% of a UK newspaper company, but no equivalent rule applies to individuals or companies not resident in the UK.
The loss of local newspapers has left much of the country without reporting of its courts, councils and communities, as advertising revenue has moved to a small number of offshore technology corporations, leading to a seriously destructive democratic deficit.
The use of dark-money funded think-tanks allows billionaires and foreign corporations to anonymously and unaccountably impact British government policymaking.
The UK’s billionaire and corporate owned media have refused to join the post-Leveson complaints authority, which is independent of government and media owners.
The Liberal Democrats in motion F17 of Autumn Conference 2026 asserted the belief that UK democracy is under threat from foreign states & billionaires who seek to use money and media interference to unduly influence British politicians and elections.
F17 committed the party to funding local journalism through a levy on very large social media companies, and the 2024 manifesto committed the party to a Leveson-compliant complaints authority independent of government and owners.Historically, liberals have been at the forefront of dispersing power from the aristocratic and billionaire class to the people, from the 19th century via the Great Reform Acts to the Universal & Women’s Suffrage Acts of the 20th century.
Liberal Democrats Believe:
For Britain to have a genuinely free press and a free and fair liberal democracy, our media ownership must be free from capture and domination by a tiny billionaire minority and that the liberal remedy for concentrated power is to disperse it.
Plurality of ownership, rather than control of content, is the solution to billionaire media domination of our politics. No one should be told what to publish.
That our current billionaire and corporate media monopolies restrict our press freedom almost as much as a state press monopoly would.
That liberals should now complete the trio of great liberal democratic reform acts by supporting a great liberal media reform act in the 21st century.
Liberal Democrats Resolve That:
The owners of UK national media organisations must be legal UK residents.
To free media ownership from domination by billionaires and corporations:
2.1 Maximum ownership share of a national media outlet for one individual or family shall be 20%.
2.2 Companies can only own one national media outlet.
A levy on social media billionaires shall fund local, independent and cooperatively owned media, in order to distribute the power of media ownership across society.
UK media must be members of a Leveson-compliant press-abuse complaints authority, independent of government and owners.
Requires think-tanks covered by the media to disclose donations in real time.”
Local council endorsements for the Media Freedom Act
If you are a Lib Dem Councillor, know a Lib Dem Councillor or have a Lib Dem Councillor as your local council representative, please ask them to submit a motion formally endorsing the Media Freedom Act to their local authority, whether it is a town, district or county council, London Borough or unitary authority.
Suggested text for 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:
2.1 The maximum ownership share allowed of a national media outlet by any one individual or family is 20%.
2.2 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.
Please let us know if you have done this and what the result was.
Find your local councillor: https://www.gov.uk/find-your-local-councillors
Nationally Elected Liberal Democrat Endorsements
If you have a Liberal Democrat MP, MSP, or Assembly Member, please email them and ask them to personally endorse the Media Freedom Act.
Sample Email: Liberal Democrat UK Parliamentary Campaign
For Liberal Democrat MPs: https://members.parliament.uk/FindYourMP
Dear XXXXX MP,
I hope you are well.
I would like you to personally endorse the Media Freedom Act, which will free British democracy from capture by a tiny group of billionaire media owners, and commit to supporting its measures in Parliament.
We will only have a free and fair liberal democracy when our media is freed from domination by a tiny unrepresentative minority.
The Act has five measures:
Media owners must be legal UK residents.
Free media ownership from domination by billionaires and corporations:
2.1 The maximum ownership share allowed of a national media outlet by any one individual or family is 20%.
2.2 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.
I look forward to your positive reply.
Many thanks
A N Other
Please let us know the results of any email you send.
Liberal Democrat Senedd Campaign
For Jane Dodds Welsh, sole Liberal Democrat Senedd Assembly Member: https://senedd.wales/find-a-member-of-the-senedd/
Dear Jane Dodds AM,
I hope you are well.
I would like you to personally endorse the Media Freedom Act, which will free British democracy from its capture by a tiny group of billionaire media owners.
I would also like you to table a motion in the Welsh Senedd calling for the British Parliament to back the Act.
We will only have a free and fair liberal democracy when our media is freed from domination by a tiny unrepresentative minority.
The Act has five measures:
Media owners must be legal UK residents.
Free media ownership from domination by billionaires and corporations:
2.1 The maximum ownership share allowed of a national media outlet by any one individual or family is 20%.
2.2 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.
I look forward to your positive reply.
Many thanks
A N Other
Please let us know the results of any email you send.
Liberal Democrat Scottish Parliament Campaign
For Scottish Liberal Democrat MSPs: https://www.parliament.scot/msps/current-and-previous-msps
Dear X XXXX MSP,
I hope you are well.
I would like you to personally endorse the Media Freedom Act, which will free British democracy from its capture by a tiny group of billionaire media owners.
I would also like you to table a motion in the Scottish Parliament calling for the British Parliament to back the Act.
We will only have a free and fair liberal democracy when our media is freed from domination by a tiny unrepresentative minority.
The Act has five measures:
Media owners must be legal UK residents.
Free media ownership from domination by billionaires and corporations:
2.1 The maximum ownership share allowed of a national media outlet by any one individual or family is 20%.
2.2 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.
I look forward to your positive reply.
Many thanks
A N Other
Please let us know the results of any email you send.
Trade Union Endorsements For The Media Freedom Act
If you are a Liberal Democrat Party supporter and a trade unionist, please submit a motion to your local trade union or TUC branch to formally endorse the Media Freedom Act and submit it to your trade union conference.
Trade Unions have 50% of the voting power at Labour Party conferences and so are a vital part of our campaign to get Labour to back the Media Freedom Act’s proposals.
Suggested text for motion to local trade 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:
2.1 The maximum ownership share of a national media outlet allowed for any one individual or family is 20%.
2.2 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.”
Please let us know if you have done this and what the result was.
https://www.gov.uk/find-your-local-councillors
This branch agrees to submit this motion to our national conference and local TUC branch for endorsement.
Many thanks
A N Other
Please let us know the results of any email you send.