The company has neither confirmed nor denied the claims, which were made in a statement by the National Union of Journalists published on its website this morning.

The union says the plans are set out in "internal company documents" which it claims to have seen.

It says an announcement about the axeing of the eight Midlands titles will be made within the next few days, and that the Post will be switched to a bi-weekly or weekly publication in the autumn.

In the statement, NUJ general secretary Jeremy Dear said: "The company needs to come clean about these disastrous plans and the community needs to stand up for quality journalism.

"If Trinity Mirror shareholders are more interested in filling their pockets than providing the resources necessary to ensure the people of the Midlands are properly served by their local papers, they should step aside and let others take over the titles."

The NUJ subsequently published a further statement, revealing that Observer Standard Newspapers boss Chris Bullivant was offering to "save" some of the titles it claims are facing the axe.

It quoted Mr Bullivant as saying: "I would love to take part in negotiations over the future of those titles in the Midlands that Trinity Mirror wants to close that aren't in conflict with our existing publications."

NUJ officials are refusing to name the eight papers it believes are threatened with closure, saying it is up to Trinity Mirror to provide more details about its plans.

The union says the planned cuts will reduce costs by a further £2.5m following last year's cutbacks which resulted in more than 70 job losses at the Midlands titles.

A Trinity Mirror spokesman said: "We are constantly reviewing our business, particularly in the current challenging economic environment.

"As always, if we do have any plans to announce, our staff would be the first to know."

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