The Southport Lead needs your help
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Hello and welcome to The Southport Lead.
I write today not with a regular newsletter but instead to ask for your help. Since launching last year, we’ve been very grateful to receive fantastic support and feedback and we’ve seen subscriber numbers consistently grow - but the reality is we need more people to be willing to pay for their news to ensure our future.
In the first few months of 2026, this newsletter has been the only place you could read regular coverage of the process of moving the children’s A&E to Southport - unlike any other publisher, I’ve been at every meeting to bring the latest updates and that continued this week as we focused on the efforts in Lancashire to have the decision overturned.
We have also been the only outlet to examine claims made during the election campaign, starting with questionable promises from Reform UK about cost-cutting and then again as the party was accused of dishonesty and ‘disgusting smears’ in its claims over a non-existent contract.
Elsewhere, our reporting that Pontins was being used a police dog training facility was picked up elsewhere without credit and we’ve also been the only place you could read about shops in the former BHS site being forced to close over safety concerns within the building.
But all of this is only possible with your support. The journalism industry is broken - inadequate funding models mean a focus on non-local news, misleading headlines, and websites with so many adverts you can’t actually read the text. Experienced journalists have left newsrooms in huge numbers and the talents of those who remain are often underutilised or impossible to read.
The result of all of this is that the public is less informed which is why we’re trying to do something different here. That was recognised at last year’s Press Gazette Future of Journalism Awards and in the feedback from readers which is always incredibly important to us.
As we progress into unchartered waters politically, scrutiny has never been more important and we want to be there every step of the way to provide it. Please help us to do that.
The Southport Lead is independent, ad-free and written in the town - please help that to continue by taking a paid subscription. A monthly subscription costs just £4.99 and an annual subscription works out at less than £1 week.