The Independent will move in with the Daily Mail in West London next year in a scheme designed to safeguard the future of the title by saving it about £2 million a year.

Independent News & Media, the parent company, will continue to own The Independent and its Sunday sister title but will share back-office services, such as IT and payroll, with the Mail's publisher Associated Newspapers.

Roger Alton, the editor of The Independent, and his 200 journalists will have office space separate from Paul Dacre, the editor of the Daily Mail, and the staff on the Mail, Evening Standard and other Associated titles based in Kensington.

The Independent will preserve its left-of-centre editorial identity - an agenda often at variance with the Mail's focus on Middle England. No editorial services, including sub-editing, will be shared with the Mail or other Associated titles.

The plans are part of an intense effort to restore the finances of The Independent, which, with its Sunday stablemate is expected to lose more than £10 million this year, as the advertising market collapses. This month it announced plans to shed 90 staff, saving £10million once the redundancies are complete.

It is one of a string of publishers that have made job cuts, with the Telegraph titles, owned by Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay, announcing plans to cut 50 journalist jobs, about 10 per cent of the editorial workforce, this week.

Ivan Fallon, UK chief executive of Independent News & Media, said that the move would “transform the prospects of the Independent titles”, and that it would create “more commercially viable newspapers while staying true to the editorial values we cherish”. The Independent and The Independent on Sunday are based on the fringes of Canary Wharf in East London.

Ian Hanson, operations director of Associated Newspapers, said: “The cost savings from a sharing of infrastructures will be beneficial to both organisations.” Associated is owned by Daily Mail and General Trust.

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BSkyB appeal

BSkyB said that it would seek leave to appeal against a competition ruling requiring it to cut its 17.9 per cent stake in ITV to 7.5 per cent. The decision pushed ITV shares down 6 per cent to 35p as investors concluded that it would delay an eventual sale for several weeks at least.

Sky, which is 39.1 per cent owned by News Corporation, parent company of The Times, applied to the Competition Appeal Tribunal, asking that the Court of Appeal look at the case for the third time.

The satellite broadcaster had been ordered to sell the shares by John Hutton, at that time the Business Secretary, and the Competition Commission. This ruling was upheld by the Competition Appeal Tribunal.

At each stage of the process it becomes harder for Sky to get the verdict overturned.

A Virgin Media spokesman said: “We urge the Competition Appeal Tribunal and the Court of Appeal to recognise Sky's application for what it is: a blatant attempt to delay an already drawn-out process still further.”

Sky spent £940 million buying ITV shares, at a price of 135p per share.

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