London, February 22

One of Britain’s largest newspaper publishers announced today it was launching a new national daily, the first of its kind for 30 years, that will hit the news stands just as another goes out of print.

Trinity Mirror, which publishes the left-leaning Daily Mirror and Sunday Mirror tabloids, said The New Day will go on sale on February 29 and offer an ‘upbeat, optimistic approach and will be politically neutral’.

The announcement comes just days after the owner of The Independent newspaper, Russian-born Evgeny Lebedev, announced that it would publish its last print edition next month after 30 years. It will continue online.

The New Day will have a social media presence but no website, according to Trinity Mirror’s Chief Executive, Simon Fox. He acknowledged that the number of people buying newspapers had declined but insisted that print was far from dead.

“Over a million people have stopped buying a newspaper in the past two years but we believe a large number of them can be tempted back with the right product,” he said.

The 40-page newspaper will be given away free on the first day, before trialling at 25 pence (0.32 euro, $0.35) for a fortnight and 50 pence after that — 10 pence cheaper than Daily Mirror.