A group of newsagents in Leicester has staged a protest against a Saturday cover price increase introduced by the city’s daily paper.

The Leicester Mercury recently increased the price its Saturday edition from 40p to 60p.

However members of the National Federation of Retail Newsagents claim none of the increase is being passed on to the agents and that their 16pc ‘cut’ is now the lowest in the newspaper industry.

Now the NFRN is threatening to write to Mercury advertisers warning them that the dispute “could prevent their advertisements reaching the consumer.”

The organisation, which is thought to represent around 200 of the 800 newsagents in the city, said the move had reduced retailer margins from 24.5pc to an “industry worst” of just 16.33pc.

National president Kieran McDonnell said:  “Publishers have to understand that there is no more blood to be extracted from the stone by way of further reduced margins.

“No retailer in his right mind is going to stock his shop with products that make a loss and if publishers want to keep retailers support, then they have to make it worthwhile to the retailer to sell their titles.

“I run my shop to make a profit and a living for my family, I will not hesitate to delist and replace any product that thinks I will support it as a charity.”

Mercury publisher David Simms said: “Local retailers and the Federation of Newsagents were informed of The Leicester Mercury’s intentions, and a full explanation was given.

“The full 20p increase will be invested to develop the Saturday proposition. We have launched a 48 page magazine that is inserted into the Saturday paper and introduced 8 pages of ‘grass roots’ sport. This represents great added value to the reader with 176 pages in the whole package.

“Sales for the product have improved by 2% since the launch and of course retailers benefit from selling more papers – albeit on their current terms.

“We are launching a retailer incentive to reward those retailers who put effort in to selling our titles and the vast majority of retailers understand our strategy.”