Culture Secretary Andy Burnham has refused to get involved in the row over whether the BBC should be allowed to go ahead with its plans for local online video news services.

The BBC plans have been fiercely opposed by regional press publishers on the grounds that they would create unfair competition for newspaper websites.

In a Commons hearing this week, Mr Burnham was challenged by backbench MPs as to whether he would intervene in the row.

But the minister told them that whether or not the plans go ahead rests with the BBC Trust, which represents the BBC licence fee payer.

The BBC plans have sparked alarm among regional newspapers who fear they could jeopardise their own online operations at a time when they face falling circulations and a slump in advertising due to the economic downturn.

As well as the regional press, both ITV and The Radiocentre, which represents the commerical radio industry, have also raised objections to the BBC plan.

Labour MP and former minister Janet Anderson asked Mr Burnham at the Commons all-party media committee whether it made sense for the BBC to provide competing services to those already provided commercially.

Mr Burnham told her: “The BBC has put forward a very interesting idea. But the question you pose is rightly one for the Trust to examine.”

He added: “This is a matter for the BBC Trust and there is no provision for Government to intervene.”

Meanwhile Colchester Liberal Democrat MP Bob Russell has tabled a Commons motion calling on the Government to do more to help the regional press.

It says MPs are “deeply alarmed that the worsening financial situation confronting the local newspaper industry has led to a reduction in the amount of news coverage and that in some cases the possible loss of titles is a real threat”.