Prescott's remarks follow the arrests of the newspaper's chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck and former news editor Ian Edmondson yesterday on charges of "illegally intercepting voice messages". Thurlbeck and Edmondson were released on bail last night following a day of questioning, and will need to return in September.
Speaking in the House of Lords this morning, Prescott, who believes he is himself a victim of hacking, repeated an earlier plea he made on 3 March to "delay the decision" of the proposed BSkyB takeover, which would see Sky News spun off under a separate publicly listed company in an attempt to guarantee media plurality.
There were also a further calls by peers for an inquiry into phone hacking. Conservative former cabinet minister Lord Fowler called full independent inquiry and there were questions as to whether a statutory press complaints commission should be established in the wake of the hacking affair.
The Met police investigation into phone hacking at News of the World was reopened in January.
Image of John Prescott by Steve Punter on Flickr. Some rights reserved.
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