Independent leftwing media outlet the Canary has said it is unable to pay its staff after Lloyds Bank blocked access to “a substantial amount” of its money and refused to say why.

The outlet has accused Lloyds of “debanking” it, and suggested the move may be related to its anti-Zionist and pro-Palestine stance. “Whilst we do not currently know the reasons behind our debanking, we cannot afford to be naive about this,” it said in a statement on Tuesday.

“We do know that multiple other politically engaged people have suffered similar actions by other banks in recent times.”

The outlet has contacted the bank several times since losing access to its account, it said, but “Lloyds has not explained why it has taken this action. Despite multiple communications from us, the bank has not been forthcoming with its reasoning.”

“The immediate effect has been that we have been unable to pay any staff or contractors,” the Canary’s CEO, Steve Topple, told Novara Media.

“We have a large team, and all of them are now extremely distressed and in limbo. Many of them are marginalised people and it has hit them very hard. We are trying our best to mitigate the situation and have so far received much-appreciated support from members of the public.”

Lloyds Bank has not responded to a request for comment from Novara Media.

The Canary announced plans in May to launch a daily newspaper with a circulation of 25,000 across England and Wales, and began distributing copies to newsagents later the same month.

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