The News Media Association has warned ministers that Brexit may affect the media’s right to access environmental impact information held by public bodies.

The newspaper industry’s trade body has outlined its concerns in a letter to David Davis, left, who is Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union.

The NMA has written to Mr Davis to seek assurances that the public’s right to access environmental impact information, which has been used by journalists for stories in the public interest, will be protected in full.

The EU’s Environmental Information Regulations 2004 were incorporated into UK law under the authority of the European Communities Act 1972, which could be repealed as part of the Brexit process.

In the letter, NMA legal, policy and regulatory affairs advisor Lucy Gill wrote: “here does not appear to be any other piece of domestic legislation to give them authority so presumably if the 1972 Act goes, so do the regulations.

“I would be grateful to learn what plans the Government has to ensure that this legislation does not fall through the cracks of the Brexit process.”

The regulations have helped bring to light information such as the Prince of Wales’s lobbying correspondence with ministers and the disclosure of the risk register for HS2.