Leveson inquiry: public wants press watchdog backed by law, poll claims 60% of people believe the government should implement the recommendations in Lord Justice Leveson's long-awaited report. Photograph: Sean Dempsey/AFP/Getty David Cameron is facing a public backlash if he fails to act to rein in the press when Lord Justice Leveson reports on Thursday, according to a poll which finds that 79% are in favour of an independent press regulator established by law. Some 60% believe the prime minister should implement Leveson's recommendations, and while 79% favour legislation to create an independent press regulator, only 9% are opposed. Just over 80% said national newspapers should be obliged to sign up to the new system by law. Support for the creation of an independent body established by law is uniform across the voting spectrum, including 81% support from readers of the Daily Mail, one of the papers most vociferous in its opposition to any state interference. Almost the entire newspaper industry is opposed to a regulator underpinned by law, although there are sharp internal disagreements between newspaper companies about the degree to which the regulator should be independent of industry. The poll, conducted by YouGov on behalf of the Media Standards Trust, comes as Cameron and some senior government colleagues prepare to receive the report at lunchtime on Wednesday ahead of publication on Thursday, and a Commons statement by Cameron. But on Tuesday 86 parliamentarians, including eight former cabinet ministers, wrote a letter to the Guardian calling on the government to oppose statutory regulation, even if it is dressed up as "underpinning." The letter says the status quo is not an option, but adds: "No form of statutory regulation of the press would be possible without the imposition of state licensing - abolished in Britain in 1695. State licensing is inimical to any idea of press freedom and would radically alter the balance of our unwritten constitution. Signatories include the former chairman of the Press Complaints Commission Lord Wakeham, the former speaker Lady Boothroyd, the chairman of the culture select committee, John Whittingdale, and all his Conservative colleagues on the committee. It has also been signed by the former home secretary David Blunkett and five other Labour MPs. The Labour leader, Ed Miliband, on Tuesday became the only front-rank politician to disclose the meetings he has held with newspaper proprietors in the runup to the Leveson report. Miliband, responding to a Guardian request, has revealed that he has had 25 separate meetings with newspaper proprietors or editors since 24 July. The editor of the Guardian, Alan Rusbridger, is due to meet Miliband on Wednesday, the list discloses. The shadow culture secretary, Harriet Harman, has had 35 meetings with newspaper executives. Not all the meetings will have been about Leveson, but they do reveal the scale of the lobbying by the newspaper industry ahead of the report. Miliband's officials said: "The Labour leader regarded it as his duty to listen to senior figures in the industry ahead of publication, but also to remember the promises he has made to the victims of phone hacking. He remains of the view that the Leveson report should be implemented so long as it is realistic and proportionate. The culture secretary, Maria Miller, the prime minister, the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, and the business secretary, Vince Cable, all declined to publish an update of their schedules of meetings with newspaper executives, saying they would only be published in line with planned government timetable for the disclosure of such meetings. The Guardian had argued that the meetings should be disclosed at the time it was most relevant - before publication of Leveson. The culture select committee met on Tuesday morning and agreed to invite Lord Justice Leveson, David Cameron, Lord Hunt and representatives of the phone hacking victims to give evidence to the committee. There is no precedent for the prime minister to give evidence to a select committee save the Liaison Committee, but the culture committee agreed Cameron should attend on the basis that he set up the Leveson inquiry. The letter from the 86 parliamentarians appears to acknowledge that Cameron may propose draft legislation that would leave papers subject to a form of regulation if they refuse to co-operate with a revamped PCC. "The prospect of drafting legislation may have the dual benefit of exposing the dangers of the statutory regulation and at the same time focus the minds of those seeking to further strengthen the existing tough independent proposals," it says. The letter also embraces the proposals for independent regulation put forward by Lord Hunt that has now been criticised as inadequate by the Guardian and Independent due to its lack of full independence from newspaper industry.The YouGov poll was commissioned by the Media Standards Trust, which is independent of, but has close links with Hacked Off, the group that campaigns for victims of phone hacking. Such polls can be criticised if questions are loaded. Voters were given a choice between two propositions. The first, supported by 79%, states: "There should be an independent body established by law which deals with complaints and decides what sanctions there should be if journalists break agreed codes of conduct." The second, supported by 9%, states: "Newspapers should establish their own body which deals with complaints and decides what sanctions there should be if journalists break agreed codes of conduct." Evan Harris, associate director of Hacked Off, said: "These polling figures show that the public - by a margin of 10 to one in most cases - overwhelmingly trust the Leveson inquiry, overwhelmingly do not want the press to be given any last chance, and overwhelmingly expect the government to implement Sir Brian [Leveson]'s recommendations." Just as importantly, the results hardly vary whether voters read the Guardian or the Daily Mail, and are held as strongly by Conservative swing voters as by Labour voters. It is also clear that the self-serving anti-Leveson propaganda campaign mounted by News International, the Telegraph and the Daily Mail has had no impact on public opinion.