The Defamation Bill, which was introduced as a Private Members' Bill by Lord Lester of Herne Hill, received its first reading in the House of Lords on 26 May 2010. The review of libel laws was listed in the Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition's programme for government as one of the measures the government intends to take (see Legal update, Coalition agreement final version: implications for IP, IT and communications). Lord Lester says that he has published the Bill to help the government to review the law of libel. The Bill includes provisions which appear to be intended to codify areas of existing defamation law including, for example, the Reynolds defence and the defences of fair comment and justification. The Bill also includes, among other things, a provision to abolish the multiple publication rule, under which each publication of defamatory material can form the basis of a new defamation claim subject to its own limitation period (clause 10), a change the previous government had said it would implement (see Legal update, Response to consultation on defamation multiple publication rule published), and a provision which seeks to prevent "libel tourism" (clause 13). Private Members' Bills generally have relatively little chance of becoming law. However, the Bill may at least provide a template for the government's proposed reform of libel law. Source: Defamation Bill, 26 May 2010.

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