National Union of Journalists general secretary Jeremy Dear has condemned Jeremy Hunt’s decision to delay a referral of News Corp’s bid for BSkyB to the Competition Commission.

Hunt said today that he intended to refer the bid but would first allow the merging parties to sumbit further “undertakings” which they feel might mitigate the bid’s threat to media plurality, outlined by Ofcom in its report.

The NUJ, which has been part of an ongoing campaign against the bid, issued the following statement from Dear:

Hunt has not just shifted the goalposts in considering the Murdoch plan to damage media plurality. He has allowed Rupert Murdoch to take the goalposts home, to return when he feels he’s more likely to win the game.