Liverpool MPs have taken the fight against the shutdown of one of the city's longest-running newspapers to Parliament.

Owners Trinity Mirror announced plans to close the 158-year-old Liverpool Post this month.

But Walton MP Steve Rotheram, Wavertree's Luciana Berger and Louise Ellman, Riverside, tabled an early day motion expressing their concern over the closure.

The Labour MPs said: "Local news provision is vital to the cultural and democratic life of communities."

The motion called on the government to "work with the industry, unions and local communities to ensure that such assets are protected."

The Post was once a thriving daily, but like most regional newspapers has suffered falling circulation and loss of advertising.

The paper dropped down to a weekly after haemorrhaging cash and readers - daily circulation had been over 20,000 in 2005 but had dropped to less than 6,000 by the end of 2011.

The change cost six journalists their jobs, though Trinity said it doesn't expect any redundancies this time.

National Union of Journalists Northern and Midlands organiser Chris Morley said the closure "will snuff out a great and influential voice for Liverpool.

"It's a shocking blow to the city at a time when it needs champions.

"The NUJ was sceptical when the title was converted from a daily newspaper into a weekly format. We didn't believe it would generate the revenues necessary in a difficult market."

NUJ general secretary Michelle Stanistreet said: "It is a tragedy for the city and for the journalists that such an iconic title of such long standing has been closed down."