Ed Miliband has slammed Rupert Murdoch’s attempt to take full control of Sky as he demanded the government reject the bid.
Culture secretary Karen Bradley was forced to the Commons today after the former Labour leader tabled an Urgent Question seeking an explanation of how she would handle the decision.
Murdoch is attempting to take over the 61% of Sky he does not already own. His 2011 bid was derailed after it emerged journalists from the News of the World had engaged in phone hacking.
Speaking in the Commons, Miliband said the bid was not “even in the realms of reality” given the second part of the Leveson Inquiry, which is due to investigate the links between News International and the Metropolitan police, had yet to take place.
“This bid shows the Murdochs have learned nothing and think they can get away with anything,” he said.
“In even launching this, the Murdochs are seeking to turn the judgment of this house, regulator and the government on its head. If it was wrong for them to own the whole thing in 2012, it is wrong today.
“We all said in 2011 that never again would we allow the Murdoch’s to wield unfettered power,” he added.
Miliband said Theresa May should stand up to the powerful as she pledged to do when she took office .“If ever there was a chance to prove it, it is today,” hes aid.
Bradley repeatedly told MPs her “quasi judicial” role in taking the decision meant she was not able to comment on the bid but that she recognised there was huge public interest.
The culture secretary was heckled by Labour MPs for “making a mockery of parliament” after she refused to be drawn on whether she had read a 2011 Ofcom report into James Murdoch - the current chairman of Sky.