New Day: Trinity Mirror's national newspaper to be aimed mainly at women

The new publication will go on sale from 29 February

A mock-up of what the new paper will look like when it goes on sale next week (Trinity Mirror)

Trinity Mirror has confirmed it will launch an "upbeat" and "optimistic" national newspaper called New Day on 29 February.

The media giant said the tabloid "will be an entirely new newspaper" and not a "light version" of their flagship newspaper the Daily Mirror.

Simon Fox, the chief executive of Trinity Mirror, told BBC Radio Four’s Today programme the new paper will have an emphasis on reporting for women but will not have an online arm.

In a statement on the company's website, Mr Fox said over a million people had stopped buying newspapers in the past two years because what is "available on the newsstand is not meeting their needs".

He said he believed they could be tempted back with a newspaper "designed for people’s modern lifestyles".

The statement said: "The New Day will cover news and topical content but with a modern style and tone, aimed at a wide audience of women and men who want something different from what is currently available.

"It will report with an upbeat, optimistic approach and will be politically neutral. It will cover important stories in a balanced way, without telling the reader what to think."

The newspaper will be available for free from over 40,000 retailers on its first day, 29 February, and then will be sold at 25p for two weeks before going up to 50p after that.

The new editor Alison Phillips - who was previously Saturday and Sunday editor at the Daily Mirror - said: "There are many people who aren’t currently buying a newspaper, not because they have fallen out of love with newspapers as a format, but because what is currently available on the newsstand is not meeting their needs.

"This paper has been created as a result of customer insight and is the first newspaper designed for people’s modern lifestyles."