Tom Watson, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, responding to Karen Bradley’s comments during this morning’s UQ, said:

“Today the Secretary of State hid behind her quasi-judicial role to avoid answering important questions on this Sky bid, which she herself accepted was of ‘significant interest’ to both Parliament and the public.

“But she cannot evade the responsibility that will fall to her to refer this bid to Ofcom and the CMA once the Government receives formal notification of it.

“Yesterday Rupert Murdoch claimed that he had never asked for anything from a Prime Minister, contradicting Sir John major’s testimony to Leveson that Murdoch had asked him to change his Party’s policy on Europe.

“If the Murdoch empire strikes back and this bid is pushed through over the Christmas holidays, when Parliament is not sitting, it will be an outrage. The Secretary of State must not let that happen.”