Lord Lester of Herne Hill QC, the original architect of the Defamation Act 2013, delivered the opening speech to the Hong Kong University Conference Media Law Policy in the Internet Age on October 18 2013 here, 'Free Speech, Reputation and Media Intrusion: Law Reform Now'.
"A difficult problem has arisen since the enactment of the Defamation Act. Under our system of devolved government, the Westminster Parliament may legislate in this area for England and Wales, but not for Scotland and Northern Ireland to whose governments and legislatures public powers has been devolved. Defamation law is a devolved subject. Historically, the law of defamation has been the same in England and Wales and Northern Ireland. Scotland’s government has adopted some very limited aspects of the legislation. Northern Ireland’s coalition government of opposing parties indicated initially that it had no plans to review the law of defamation. It was ironical that the DUP, committed to keeping Northern Ireland within the UK should decide to sever Northern Ireland from England and Wales in this area of law. During a debate in the House of Lords in June, reference was made to the view of a senior Belfast lawyerwho wrote this: