A flagship Scottish daily is reported to have paid out more than £6,000 damages to a political blogger over an article published in the newspaper.

Rev Stuart Campbell, who edited a pro-independence website called Wings Over Scotland, received the out-of-court settlement over a report published in The Scotsman on 13 June this year.

It alleged that Mr Campbell used his website to encourage Yes campaigners to ‘name and shame’ political opponents and also claimed he had once made insulting comments about the victims of the Hillsborough football stadium disaster.

Although the story was taken down from the paper’s website on the same day and a correction published, Mr Campbell decided to take the issue further.

Last night STV reported that The Scotsman has now made a financial payment to the blogger after the two parties settled out of court.

Mr Campbell told the TV station: “The allegations made in the Scotsman piece were utterly disgusting and wholly untrue – a fact which could have been established by 30 seconds of the most elementary cub-reporter journalistic diligence.

“For the editor to then compound them with such a graceless, sour, grudging “correction” added insult to injury and made it imperative to seek legal redress.

“It’s sad to see a once-respected “quality” newspaper reduced not only to such cheap smears but also to behaving like a sulking playground bully when caught.”

Johnston Press has declined to comment on the issue.