The National Union of Journalists has welcomed Trinity Mirror’s decision to launch a new Sunday edition of the Liverpool Echo, while continuing to argue it was wrong to close the Liverpool Post.

As reported on HTFP yesterday, journalists whose roles disappeared as a result of the Post closure last month are to be redeployed on the new seven-day Echo.

The only exception is the Post’s former editor Mark Thomas who has been appointed editor of the North Wales Daily Post.

The NUJ said in a statement that while it still believes Trinity Mirror was wrong to have closed the Post, it is heartened that staff have not been made redundant and will move to jobs on the Echo and its Sunday edition.

Northern and Midlands organiser Chris Morley said:  “While the end of the Daily Post in Liverpool was mourned as the loss of a significant journalistic voice in the city, the start of Sunday publication of the Echo is to be welcomed.

“It clearly shows that there is still confidence in the printed word and I hope this investment will prove successful. Time will tell on that. But for sure, there will need to be commitment to the project by the company over the longer term and a real collaboration with staff about how this can be achieved with the resources available.”

• Former Birmingham Mail editor and blogger Steve Dyson has also welcomed the move to a seven-day Echo, predicting it may well be copied by other publishers if the move is a success.

Writing in MediaGuardian, Steve described the move by Trinity Mirror as a “rare positive announcement from an embattled industry.”

He said:  “If Merseyside’s experiment works, “Sunday edition” cases could be made for bigger cities and distinct urban areas with strong dailies and no existing Sabbath titles: Manchester, East Anglia and West Yorkshire spring to mind.”