MPs have challenged Fleet Street editors over the role of the Press Complaints Commission.

Members of the culture, media and sport committee - who are investigating privacy and media intrusion - heard editors say that the current voluntary system is working well.

Traditional rivalries were set aside on Tuesday as Mirror editor Piers Morgan, the Sun's editor Rebekah Wade and News of the World editor Andrew Coulson gave evidence.

The message from Fleet Street was that the commission's code had massively changed the way newspapers work since it was created in 1991.

The committee was concentrating on private individuals, rather than celebrities or public figures, and had already heard in closed sessions from people who believed the commission had failed to give them redress.

Piers Morgan argued that practices had changed for the better over the last decade.

"We are under no illusion that when the press pack descends it can be quite and ordeal for the individual. But we really believe we've got our house in order," Morgan said.

A comparison of conduct of journalists around the world would find Britain's media workers were "pretty high up the tree" Morgan said, adding the editors had been called to the committee for a "ritual bollocking".

Morgan argued that if anything the commission was not doing enough to advertise the fact that it had made massive leaps forward over the last decade.

"People do have redress. Most of the complaints to the PCC are by ordinary members of the public. Most are satisfied with the way it handles their complaint," said Morgan.

Committee member Rosemary McKenna said the people who had given evidence to MPs in private had seen their complaint upheld but felt "an apology at the bottom of page 20" was not enough.

Sun editor Rebekah Wade rejected the idea of the PCC being able to levy fines on newspapers.

"If you impose fines, you are turning the PCC into a semi-judicial body," she said.

"It's quick, fair, free and easy to use. It's not just about adjudication but about raising standards."

She also highlighted the Soham murders last summer where all the newspapers withdrew at the request of the commission's chief Guy Black - but television broadcasters stayed in the village.

Both committee chairman Gerald Kaufman and member Frank Doran highlighted other regulators - such as the FA and BMA which have powers to levy fines or strike or stop people practicing.

Doran said that if a body governing lawyers, doctors or teachers argued for self-regulation, the newspapers would be "attacking it day after day".

News of the World editor Coulson defended his paper's decision to publish pictures of Prince William out shopping which he believed were "inoffensive" and did not breach PCC rules or the agreement with St James Palace.

"We can't get away from the fact that there is going to be interest in Prince William. Prince William's 21st birthday isn't far away now," he said.