HERALD NEWSPAPER

Early day motion 607, tabled 27 January 2005 by Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru). Signed by 14 members.

That this House condemns the decision of the Trinity Mirror group to close the Herald newspaper on 2nd March; regrets that this will bring to an end the Herald's glorious and radical 150 year history of serving the Welsh speaking community of north west Wales and Caernarfon's even longer tradition of newspaper publishing in the Welsh language; commends the staff and contributors of the Herald for their hard and creative work; further regrets that this will mean an end to a unique public platform for public debate in Welsh; is disappointed that the Welsh Language Board failed to intervene successfully to save the paper; and calls on the publishers to reconsider their decision and review all aspects of publication of the newspaper, including the day of publication so that it can compete fairly with English language equivalent now published a day ahead of the Herald.

Signatures by party: Labour 5, Plaid Cymru 4, Scottish National Party 3, Liberal Democrat 2.