Claims that former Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond is planning to buy The Scotsman are “completely unfounded” according to the chief executive of Johnston Press, which owns the newspaper.

The Sunday Times claimed in an article that the ex SNP leader, who lost his parliamentary seat in the last election, is in talks to buy the newspaper.

Salmond is said to want greater diversity in the Scottish press,which is predominantly unionist with only a handful of pro-indepencence titles including The Scotsman and The National.