DESPITE its name, common sense seldom haunts the floor of the House of Commons, so it was pleasing to see a rare outbreak of level headedness in Parliament’s lower house on Wednesday.

A Labour-led bid to curb press freedom and hold a second Leveson inquiry collapsed after MPs refused to give their support to the controversial plans. Anyone who cares about Britain having a free, independent press which holds people to account can today breathe a sigh of relief that MPs recognised the importance of press freedom to our democracy.

The amendment by Ed Miliband for a sweeping inquiry into the news media was defeated by nine votes and the amendment by Tom Watson, deputy leader of the Labour Party, to bring in Section 40 draconian costs sanctions was not pressed to a vote.

Mr Miliband had earlier urged MPs to back what he claimed was an attempt to support phone hacking victims. What nonsense. The phone hacking scandal was a disgrace but the moves being proposed would have forced newspapers to pay all legal costs in libel cases brought against them, regardless of the outcome.

It would have made it near impossible for most local papers to take the risk of uncovering stories of abuse and wrongdoing.

The industry can now focus upon the important task of ensuring that the business of producing high quality journalism has a sustainable future.

Many thanks to all of our readers who took the time to urge their MP to uphold the freedom of the British press.