A regional daily is giving away 25,000 copies to lonely and vulnerable people on its patch.

The Yorkshire Post has announced the project, which has been made possible after it secured external funding from Barclays.

The Leeds-based Post will distribute the copies every day during the coronavirus lockdown to people nominated by community workers, charities and others.

The scheme was announced in Saturday’s edition by editor James Mitchinson.

James, pictured, wrote: “Those of us in the business of purveying information – journalists have key worker status – have a particular duty to do what we can to share what we know as widely as possible.

“That’s why I am particularly pleased today to be able to announce a new initiative that will place free copies of the Yorkshire Post in the hands of people who will benefit from them the most.”

James went on to note there would be “no complicated forms to fill in”.

He added: “The distribution will be done sensitively, for not being able to afford a newspaper is a stigma in itself.

“But with the help of Barclays, we hope we will be able to go on doing this through the dark nights, beyond Christmas and into the new year.

“In all, some 25,000 newspapers will find their way into the homes and hands of people who otherwise would have gone through lockdown with little contact with anyone else, and with nothing like the same level of information from local radio or television.”

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