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David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband claim victory in Leveson deal
A deal has been struck between the three main political parties on measures to regulate the press, Labour has said.
Leader Ed Miliband said the deal would protect "future victims" of press intrusion, while maintaining a free press.
An overhaul of press regulation began after it was revealed that journalists had hacked thousands of phones.
But Tory Maria Miller said leaders still needed to discuss details.
Lord Justice Leveson's inquiry into press ethics in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal called for a new, independent regulator backed by legislation designed to assess whether it is doing its job properly, which prompted months of political wrangling.
The Liberal Democrats and Labour wanted a royal charter backed by legislation, while Prime Minister David Cameron supported a royal charter without a law.
A Commons debate and vote were scheduled for Monday, but after overnight talks between the Lib Dem and Labour leaders and a senior Tory minister resulted in a deal, the vote was cancelled. A statement from the prime minister is expected in the Commons later.
The regulator is likely to be able to force a newspaper to issue corrections and apologies, and could also have the power to impose fines.
"Start Quote
End QuoteIf the deal they made holds, there will be endless spin and analysis about who moved and who blinked"
Describing the regulator as having teeth to punish, Mr Miliband said: "A free press has nothing to fear from what has been agreed".
The deal sets out that an independent regulator of the press will be established by royal charter, but both sides have differed in their interpretation of what the deal involves.
Mr Miliband said the royal charter "would be underpinned by statute".
He said this was important because "it stops ministers or the press meddling with it, or watering it down in the future."
However, Mr Cameron and the Culture secretary, Maria Miller, both said there was no statutory underpinning.
"What we wanted to avoid, and we have avoided, is a press law," Mr Cameron said.
"Nowhere will it say what this body is, what it does, what it can't do, what the press can and can't do. That, quiet rightly, is being kept out of Parliament. So, no statutory underpinning but a safeguard that says politicians can't in future fiddle with this arrangement."
Details still have to be worked out, with Ms Miller saying: "It's important that we get the details right, and there needs to be a conversation between the leaders, and I think that will go ahead this morning."
Analysis
To anyone outside Westminster this must all sound like not so much a dance, but more like an enthusiastic disco on the head of a pin.
It boils down to how to set up a new system for regulating the newspapers that is respected, but not seen to be a law that undermines the freedom of the press.
After months of talks and hours before a crunch Commons vote, a few buckets of midnight oil were burnt to bring the political parties very close to a deal.
David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg will speak this morning to nail it down.
Government sources say officially there isn't a deal yet because complexity and half two in the morning are not comfortable companions and the Prime Minister wasn't at those nocturnal negotiations anyway.
Labour are claiming there will be a Royal Charter underpinned by law. But Conservatives say it is merely a clause that will say the Charter can't be amended.
Or to put it another way, when is statutory underpinning not statutory underpinning? Let that disco begin.
Mr Clegg said he had worked "flat out" to get the deal, and was "delighted" with the cross-party agreement.
"We've secured the cherished principle of freedom of the press, which is incredibly important in our democracy, but also given innocent people the reassurance that we won't be unjustifiably bullied or intimidated by powerful interests in the press without having proper recourse when that happens."
Labour's Harriet Harman explained that "a small piece of legislation" in the enterprise and regulatory reform bill would be tabled in the Lords later.
The clause states that a royal charter cannot be changed unless it meets requirements stated within specific charters for amendments.
It does not mention any specific charter, Leveson or the press - but the royal charter on press regulation would itself state that it cannot be amended without a two-thirds majority of Parliament.
Nick Robinson said the press had been informed over the days and months of wrangling, with key players being Telegraph's Lord Black, Associated Newspapers' Peter Wright, the editor of the Times John Witherow and the editor of the FT Lionel Barber.
Evan Harris of campaign group Hacked Off was at the overnight talks, with three other members. The group tweeted: "We're encouraged by the progress of the talks but questions remain over the incentives that get papers to join the new regulator."
But reacting to news of a political deal, one newspaper industry source told the BBC they were "instinctively uncomfortable" with it.
The source noted that there was no compulsion for the papers to be involved in the new system - they could carry on setting up a new regulator to replace the much-criticised Press Complaints Commission but decide that the regulator should not apply for official recognition.
The industry has a proposed independent body of its own, which would be able to fine those who breached its standards - up to £1m - and award compensation to victims.
There would be an investigative arm, to look into serious wrongdoing by papers, and legally enforceable contracts, to bind publishers into the new system and ensure funding.
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