How the Tory Party is increasingly resembling a fringe pressure group - The Yorkshire Post says

The job is to report without fear or favour on everything from the latest at Westminster, right down to the more parochial, but still important matters, at parish councils.

Therefore the very idea that the Conservative Party even considered closing off access to the press by charging for entry to its conference has left a sense of incredulity across the media.

This was reflected by the campaign from various industry bodies that called for the Tories to abandon the “accreditation fee”, set at £137 per application. The party has now ditched the proposals but is warning that no shows could be charged a levy for future conferences.

The Conservative Party complaining about administrative costs is laughable, when it continues to benefit from generous contributions courtesy of its donors.

It is symptomatic of a once serious party, the party of Government must we add, that the Tories are increasingly resembling a fringe pressure group. A closed shop that only cares about ideology and not the greater good of the country.

All the major political parties must remember that a free press is key to democracy. Social media platforms are not going to fill the void, as we are and have seen.

Good journalism comes at a cost and adding to that cost is only going to make it harder for those that are striving for the truth.

Charging for access to conferences is not going to impact the media giants but it would make life more difficult for those that are operating on behalf of their communities.

Fake newspapers, pretending to be independent, printed by major political parties during election campaigns won’t fulfil the function of good, honest journalism either.

The Tory Party has rightly abandoned its policy to charge journalists for access to its conference. And the other major political parties would also be wise not to head down that path.