The Sunday Times has warned that its historic exposure of drugs cheat cyclist Lance Armstrong would never have happened had Section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act been enacted.

It has published a form urging readers to respond to a Government consultation and urging them to back the scrapping of both Section 40 and part two of the Leveson Inquiry.

The consultation closes on 10 January and also asks whether Leveson part two, looking at phone-hacking and journalists’ relations with the police.