Scottish daily The Scotsman has opted to be classed as a regional newspaper for its circulation figures.

The title and its sister paper Scotland on Sunday have previously been classified as national papers by the Audit Bureau of Circulation but did not appear in this month’s report.

They have followed Glasgow-based The Herald and the Sunday Herald, which last year made the switch from national to regional papers for the ABC figures.

Sales figures for the papers will now be published every six months like other local and regional titles in the UK.

The latest figures for the titles, which were published last month, show The Scotsman had an average circulation of 33,563 for the six months to the end of January, a decline of 15.3pc year-on-year.

And Scotland of Sunday’s circulation was 39,929, a fall of 20.1pc.