A Newsquest-owned Sunday newspaper has become the first UK regional title to back Scottish independence.

This week’s Sunday Herald published a front page under the headline ‘Sunday Herald says Yes’ with an inside editorial setting out the pro-independence case.

However it is not clear whether its bigger daily stablemate The Herald will follow suit.

The editorial made clear that individual title editors within the Herald and Times group were being given the freedom to decide their stance on the issue.

It read: “Scotland is an ancient nation and a modern society. We understand the past, as best we can, and guess at the future. But history is as nothing to

the lives of the children being born now, this morning, in the cities, towns and villages of this country.

“On their behalf, we assert a claim to a better, more decent, more just future in which a country’s governments will be ruled always by the decisions of its citizens.”

The editorial described the referendum as a choice between a “bankrupt, political structure” and the chance to “remake our society in a more equal, inclusive, open and just way.”

The Herald supported the Scottish National Party in the 2007 and 2011 Scottish Parliament elections.

An article on the newspaper’s website said: “The Herald & Times Group, publisher of the Sunday Herald, The Herald and the Evening Times, is giving the

titles’ editors freedom to take their own editorial position on the constitution. The company is non-political and neutral.

“The Herald has not declared an opinion on the referendum question. It will be up to its editor to decide when and if to do so.”

The newspaper said that Scotland’s media should reflect the diversity of opinion within the country and should not speak with one voice.

It said that this diversity of opinion is reflected within the Sunday Herald’s own staff, with some supporting independence while others do not.