A regional daily has launched a final push against a company that previously sent it repeated legal threats.

The Portsmouth News has renewed its campaign against Aquind, which is aiming to build a cross-Channel power cable that the newspaper believes would lead to large areas of its patch being dug up.

The campaign by the newspaper is supported by Stephen Morgan and Penny Mordaunt, Portsmouth’s Labour and Tory MPs respectively, and the Liberal Democrat-run Portsmouth City Council.

In November, the News revealed lawyers representing Aquind had threatened action over matters “demonstrably within the public interest” over the past five years.

The News splashed on the renewed campaign on Tuesday

It came after the News won Campaign of the Year at last year’s inaugural Media Freedom Awards for its bid to stop Aquind.

News assistant editor Tom Morton told HTFP: “That was something that did make us more determined with our reporting on it.

“As a city we’ve come back standing firm on it.”

The scheme was previously rejected by then-Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng, but will now be reconsidered by his successor Grant Schapps following a judicial review.

While renewing the campaign, the News also published an open letter from Aquind to its readers offering the company’s side of the story.

Tom added: “They seem to be more open to discussion and dialogue now.

“We are more than happy to have dialogue with them now and let them put their side across, but we think our argument is stronger.”