Labour’s debate on local newspapers in the Scottish Parliament yesterday was a victory for local democracy. At present local authorities must advertise public information notices in newspapers, predominantly local newspapers. The Government has plans to remove this duty and allow councils to advertise these notices only on web sites.

On the face of it this might seem like a reasonable policy and a good way to save public money. However, the cost to local democracy and to local newspapers would be very high.

At present, many people will find public notices which affect them, as they read through their local newspaper. The Government’s proposal, would mean that this information would only be available to those who actively look for it online.

In addition, the removal of the income that public notices provide to local newspapers would have a serious – possibly terminal – effect on many local papers.

The debate can be found here.