People are getting "suspicious" about the delay in implementing the Leveson proposals on press regulation, according to a former Cabinet minister.

Tory peer Lord Fowler, a former journalist, said it was nearly four months since Parliament overwhelmingly agreed a way forward that "protected the freedom of the press but also the public from the abuse of press power".

He raised his concerns in the House of Lords as the Government came under pressure to explain why the press-backed draft Royal Charter on regulation was being considered by the Privy Council before an alternative cross-party version.