SNP should drop proposals to cut public notices

4.49.12pm GMT Thu 28th Jan 2010

Commenting after speaking in the debate on local newspapers, Liberal Democrat Culture spokesperson Iain Smith MSP said:

"SNP Ministers plan to cut a huge chunk of the income of local papers by removing public notices from them.

"The purpose of a public notice is that it is something the public will notice. The public are unlikely to stumble across a relevant notice on the internet. People do not browse the internet like they turn the pages of a newspaper.

"This will sound the death knell for many papers in remote and rural communities across Scotland.

"It is often only through the pages of local newspapers that there is any debate about how a local council is performing. It can be the only place where community views on local planning issues are aired.

"If these proposals go ahead there will be no local press to scrutinise anything.

"The SNP should drop this ill thought out proposal."