The Sun has hailed the introduction of its online paywall by producing a wraparound special edition.
The illustration cover, titled “This is our Britain”, comes ahead of tomorrow’s launch of Sun+, which will see the paper become the first national tabloid to charge for its online content.
Pages two and three are dedicated to an editorial outlining The Sun’s editorial position on a range of subjects, including politics, welfare, immigration and Europe.
The cover picture depicts a range of images of Britain including the Angel of the North, Stonehenge, the Loch Ness monster, John Terry and an Easyjet plane.
It also shows a picture of the Shard development in London and the so-called baby Shard, which will be The Sun’s home from 2015.
In an interesting move, the wraparound cover also shows a picture of Liverpool’s Royal Liver Building. The city has boycotted the paper for the last 24 years, following its infamous “The Truth” cover following the Hillsborough disaster in 1989.
The cover also features a reader viewing The Sun app on an iPad and hails “the incredible transformation of our country by technology”.
From tomorrow, The Sun will be available digitally for £2 a week, with subscribers also able to enjoy a range of extra content through Sun+ including Premier League goals and retail offers. Print readers will also be able to access digital content via an access code printed in each copy of the paper.
The Sun currently attracts around 1.8m daily unique browsers and just short of 30m every month.
In today’s editorial, The Sun has also given its clearest hint yet as to its position ahead of the 2015 general election.
While it says “we are not slavish supporters of any party”, the editorial says that the Tories are “on a good run”, adding that it doesn’t currently trust Labour to run the economy. However, it has left its position open, saying “it could all change”.
The Sun backed David Cameron at the 2010 general election, having supported Tony Blair’s Labour party for each of its three consecutive victories from 1997.
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