The decline of local newspapers is threatening democracy and hampering social mobility, a local councillor told TUC congress yesterday.

Congress unanimously voted in favour of a motion calling for a government inquiry into the future of local newspapers and a ban on papers being shut down overnight.

The decision follows news that 140 titles have closed since 2011 and a quarter of local government areas are no longer covered by a local paper.

National Union of Journalists (NUJ) delegate Andrew Smith said that there was still demand for local news in spite of this.

“Local advertisers want to be put in touch and readers want reliable sources for local news,” he said.

“Local power and money still needs scrutiny by local communities.

“Your local paper serving your community isn’t yours, and you won’t realise that until someone else decides to close it.”

He said titles could be protected as “community assets.”

Unite delegate Nigel Gawthrope, a Cambridge city councillor and former printworker, told Congress: “Local newspapers are an important way of people in my community finding out what I and other councillors are doing, and ensuring that our actions being scrutinised and we are being held to account.

“I’d much rather talk to a journalist than have them rely on a press release with no questions asked.”

He said that access to journalism had reached crisis point with 54 per cent of top positions going to the privately educated.

“Journalists used to work their way up through the locals,” he said.