A high level political row is raging between ministers in Stormont and London after Northern Ireland lost out on a key aspect of the government’s plans for kick-starting the UK’s digital economy.

It is understood DUP minister Nelson McCausland has cancelled a meeting with his counterpart at the Department of Culture, Media and Sport after the Province was the only one of the UK’s regions not to get a pilot programme for regional news.

The government’s “Digital Britain” report published in June identified news provision as the top priority of future public service broadcasting.

Earlier this week, DCMS announced that news pilots schemes would be tendered in Scotland, Wales and one English region early next year to produce regional news programming which would be broadcast on the troubled ITV network.

But Mr McCausland, Stormont’s minister for Culture, Arts and Leisure, is understood to be angry that Northern Ireland has lost out on millions of pounds of funding for public service broadcasting in the Province.

He was due to meet DCMS minister Sion Simon in London yesterday (WED) but cancelled, saying he would only travel to London once DCMS put a firm proposal on the table for funding for a local news pilot, sources told the Belfast Telegraph.

Mr McCausland supports the introduction of a pilot scheme for the Province and has called for it to be broadened to include current affairs programming.

However, last week DCMS sources told the Belfast Telegraph that Northern Ireland had basically “fallen off the end” of the showpiece Digital Britain rollout strategy. They admitted there was currently “nothing” in Digital Britain for Northern Ireland in the immediate future.

DUP MPs sitting on the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee at Westminster yesterday voiced concern about the DCMS stance.

Upper Bann MP David Simpson said: “It is very sad that the government has taken this decision that we are not going to equally treated as other regions of the United Kingdom. It gets to a very bad state when a government minister has to cancel meetings with other government officials because of this.”

Strangford MP Iris Robinson also expressed concern about the DCMS Digital Britain strategy and demanded equal treatment for Northern Ireland A DCMS spokesperson said: "Digital Britain aims to improve digital services for the whole UK, including Northern Ireland.

"The Independently Funded News Consortia (IFNCs) will be piloted in three areas of UK where regional news is currently under threat.

"Northern Ireland has strong regional news provision. However, we intend to keep the pilot process under review and will consider whether a further pilot could be introduced in the future."

The Belfast Telegraph group and Bob Geldof’s Ten Alps company have formed an alliance to tender for a pilot programme, should one be granted for Northern Ireland.