The Herald boasts a more colourful look

Andrew Neil, Editor in Chief of Scotsman Publications, said: "The new Scotsman will cover Edinburgh, Glasgow, the rest of Scotland, British affairs, Scottish affairs, and international affairs in a way that will bring great credit to the paper and be the kind of quality broadsheet that Scotland needs and deserves."

He said the "new Scotsman" would have a modern, progressive attitude "in tune with the new Scotland of the 21st century rather than the Scotland of the 1970s".

Acknowledging that the paper had been losing readers to London-based papers like the Daily Mail and The Times, Mr Neil said: "We are not haemorrhaging readership.

"Our ABC for April will be about 80,000 which is what the circulation of The Scotsman has been for the past five years.

Cultural change

"It did dip in the last days of Alan Ruddock, which is why I had to make a change.

"It was getting dangerously low at 75,000. Now it is back to 80,000 and that is a firm base on which to do this relaunch.

"In all relaunches there are staff changes and that is very healthy.

"There are a number of people leaving because they don't like the new style of paper.

'Authority and balance'

"That's fine. They should leave. There are plenty of other papers to work for in Scotland. There is huge diversity here and I want to change the culture of the paper.

"I want new people in. I want a different attitude."

The Herald Editor, Harry Reid, who announced his resignation last week, said: "I am absolutely delighted with our redesign.

"My colleagues John Ryan and Jane McKay have done a magnificent job in improving the presentation of our content, which will continue to exude authority and balance."