Mosley hatches plan to make the papers pay

Newspapers should pay a levy from the cover price of every copy they sell to fund a new independent press regulator "with teeth" which would have the power to impose fines on publications that infringe media rules, the former Formula 1 boss Max Mosley told Parliament yesterday.

Mr Mosley, appearing before a joint committee on injunctions and privacy, revealed that a proposal for the regulatory body, which would also require papers to offer "prior notification" when stories about individuals' private lives are to be published, was being drawn up to be put before the ongoing Leveson Inquiry into press standards.

The plan was outlined during testimony by Mr Mosley, actors Hugh Grant and Steve Coogan, and Conservative MP Zac Goldsmith, who called for the heavily-criticised Press Complaints Commission to be replaced.

Mr Mosley said the independent body proposed would be funded by the proceeds from fines and a levy of "less than 1p per copy sold per day" by newspapers. It would be able to order that a story cannot be published and demand a correction with equal prominence to any innacurate original article. In return, the power of the courts to punish the press would be removed.