A passionate "localiser", the MP for South West Surrey visited the Buxton Advertiser and described local papers as the "voice of the community".

He wants council services to be run by people at the most local level possible: "I think the next big job in British politics is going to be to push services lower down in a serious and meaningful way to local communities because people are passionate about their local communities."

"It's part of human nature to care deeply about things that are going on around you.

"Local newspapers hold local councils to account and they basically stitch together the fabric of local communities.

"If you believe as I do that you should be giving more responsibility to local communities and trusting them to take responsibility for the direction that their communities follow, then you need to have an effective way of holding them to account - and that's where local newspapers are incredibly important."

Mr Hunt is calling for a relaxation of the competition rules which at the moment prevent local newspapers from becoming involved in local radio and television.

In America, towns with populations as low as 12,000 had their own TV stations, and with co-operation from regional and national broadcasters, there was no reason why Buxton and the High Peak could not, in conjunction with newspapers, produce something similar.

But they had to meet the challenge of new technology, especially the internet.

"If local newspapers are kept to the model that says all they can do is print 'news on trees', then they are going to be superseded by technology sooner or later," warned Mr Hunt.