Theresa May suffered her first parliamentary defeat as prime minister as the House of Lords voted through new laws compensating phone hacking victims.
Peers backed the proposal to extend damages to victims from newspapers not signed up to an approved regulator, as part of the Investigatory Powers Bill looking at the interception of communications.
An amendment, tabled by crossbencher Baroness Hollins, sought to provide cost protection for claimants in court cases and was passed by 282 votes to 180.
“I assure noble Lords that I strongly support a free press, but freedom comes with responsibilities and claimants have rights too,” Baroness Hollins said during the debate.
The bill is intended to make it easier for victims of press abuse to take newspapers to court.
The provision also exists in Section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013 but is not in force as no approved press regulator exists.
All Conservative peers voted against the amendment, but it was passed due to crossbench, Labour and Liberal Democrat support.
Ministers might attempt to overturn the defeat by raising it in the House of Commons but the scale of the defeat may make this difficult.
Baroness Hollins also criticised former Culture Secretary John Whittingdale, saying he betrayed victims of press abuse.
“There has been no explanation to Parliament as to why the former Culture Secretary announced last October at a meeting of newspaper editors that he was not minded to commence Section 40," she said.
“That represents a change of government policy, which both breaks the cross-party agreement and betrays promises made to both Houses and to press abuse victims,” Baroness Hollins added.
