David Cameron orders newspapers to reform rapidly The meeting was hosted by Maria Miller, the Culture and Media Secretary, who said editors had "responded positively." "There was unanimous agreement that what we need now is for the press to go forward with developing a tough independent self-regulatory body," she said. The challenge has been thrown down to them, they've responded positively and it's now for them to go away and develop those plans. She also reminded the editors that an initial set of proposals put forward by Lord Hunt, the chairman of the Press Complaints Commission, will not be sufficient. Speaking in the House of Commons last night, Mrs Miller said the Government has not ruled out new regulation under law if editors do not come up with a tough new system. If he can get agreement from all newspaper editors, the Prime Minister may avoid having to bring in a new watchdog backed by legislation. This was recommended by Lord Justice Leveson and supported by Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, and Nick Clegg, the deputy Prime Minister. However, Mr Cameron still hopes to persuade the other leaders that new laws are not needed, as cross-party talks on the controversial issue continue. All three major political parties are split over the issue. Around 40 Conservative MPs are pushing for new laws, while more than 40 are fighting against any restrictions to freedom of the press.