Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond has stepped up his criticisms of the decision by Glasgow’s Herald and Times group to issue redundancy notices to most of its 225 staff, suggesting the “credibility” of their flagship title is at stake.

The publisher has unveiled plans to merge the newsrooms of The Herald, Evening Times and Sunday Herald with the loss of 30-40 jobs overall

More than 200 journalists at the three titles have been issued with redundancy notices and invited to reapply for their jobs.

But the move has sparked mounting political controversy with First Minister Mr Salmond demanding an explanation for the company’s actions.

Mr Salmond told members of the Scottish Parliament: “If this was happening in another employer in Scotland, if an approach was being taken to make an entire workforce redundant, what would we imagine that the editorial stance of the Herald newspaper would’ve been?

“I think that the owners of the Herald group should think carefully about the credibility of the newspaper given the stance they have adopted.”

David Whitton, the Labour MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden and a former journalist, raised the issue in a debate on Scottish broadcasting in the devolved parliament in Edinburgh.

“Some of those people are my constituents, and I am disgusted at the tactics of their management. The Herald is one of the oldest newspapers in the English-speaking world and those who work for it deserve better, no matter what the company’s current financial position is,” he said.

Herald and Times managing director Tim Blott says the plan is designed to secure the titles’ digital future and weather the severe economic storm affecting the British media industry.

The Newsquest-owned company has so far made no response to the political criticisms that have followed the announcement.