Ed Miliband calls for a review of the Press

Labour leader Ed Miliband has called for an independent review of newspaper regulation and practices following the News of the World phone hacking scandal.

Mr Miliband said that once the current police investigation and any ensuing criminal cases were over, there should be an inquiry into the wider issues raised by the affair.

"I think there does need to be a review after the police inquiries have been completed and any criminal cases that flow from it," he told The Guardian.

"I think it is in the interests of protecting the reputation of the British press that these matters should not simply be left to rest, and lessons have to be learned."

Mr Miliband said that while his "strong instincts" were against government regulation of the press, he said that the existing Press Complaints Commission had not "covered itself in glory".

"The press itself will want to look at how self-regulation can be made to work better because it clearly did not work very well in relation to these issues here.

"It is not about government imposing this on the press, but I think the review needs to have some independence, both from government and from those involved in the day-to-day running of newspapers. I think that would help the industry.

"There has to be a sense that the future is not going to be like the past. Wider lessons have to be learned."