Plans to introduce charges to read The Scottish Sun online, along with other News International titles, have been put on hold.

News Corp chair, Rupert Murdoch, conceded that his preferred date of next June to build a 'pay wall' around the company’s sites - which also include The Times and Wall Street Journal - is now unlikely.

The proposed move has been watched with keen interest by other content publishers as the industry looks to break from the free-viewing model that has been blamed for declining sales of the print editions of most major newspapers.

However, Murdoch admitted: “It's a work in progress and there's a huge amount of work going on, not just at our sites but with other people."