The owner of the Daily Mail has struck a £500m deal to buy the Telegraph titles, in a move that will create a right-leaning publishing powerhouse.

Lord Rothermere’s Daily Mail & General Trust (DMGT) has entered a period of exclusivity with RedBird IMI, which has been seeking a buyer since being forced to put the papers up for sale last spring, to complete the terms of the transaction.

The two parties say they expect this process to “happen quickly”, however the deal is likely to trigger an in-depth investigation by the media regulator Ofcom and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

The creation of a large rightwing media organisation will spark concerns in Labour ranks, at a time when Reform UK is riding a wave of popularity against the government.

“It is almost impossible to ov

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