---

Digital Economy Bill [HL]

I am interested to hear the noble Lord talk about the public purse because we are getting this in Scotland through the Scottish Executive. There is a hidden public subsidy to almost all local news services through local, regional and national—in the case of Scotland—government taking out paid advertising with those services. I hope that they are not doing this for political purposes, but the Scottish Executive are advising local authorities to put all their advertising on the internet and not to use local newspapers or services at all. That will be extremely damaging and one would be surprised if local newspapers can survive without that hidden public subsidy from local authorities and regional governments.