The Helensburgh and Lomond MSP has been a staunch backer of the No More Page Three campaign, which thought it had cause to celebrate last week following reports across national media outlets The Sun, owned by Rupert Murdoch, was set to pull its traditional daily snap of scantily clad topless girls for good.

The ‘pin-ups’ were introduced in 1970 shortly after Murdoch took charge.

It now seems media speculation surrounding the demise of the page three pictures may have been premature as the paper recommenced with its traditional topless picture last Thursday. Girls in swim wear have since appeared on the page leading readers and critics to think that the topless pictures may instead be phased out over time.

Early last week a news story appeared in The Times, also a Murdoch-owned title, which revealed The Sun could be ready to call a halt to its page three routine after almost 45 years.

Ms Baillie had raised a motion in the Scottish Parliament back in November, 2013 – praising the work of the No More Page Three campaign which called on The Sun to stop printing pictures of topless women.

The campaign had initially been set up during the London Olympics in 2012 when actress and writer Lucy-Anne Holmes realised the largest female picture in the Sun, the day after heptathlete Jessica Ennis won gold, was of a topless page three model.

Ms Baillie said: “Page three is a throwback to the 1970s and I think most men and women in Helensburgh and Lomond would like to see it consigned to the dustbin of history. Over 240,000 people have now signed the petition to say no to Page Three – that’s an increase of 30,000 thanks to the free publicity generated for the campaign by The Sun’s silly stunt last week.” The MSP told the Advertiser newspapers should instead be extending coverage on women’s achievements, pointing out that a woman had been in the running for FIFA goal of the season.

Although admitting that she wasn’t a football fan, the MSP said she found the story of real interest.

She added: “It would send a powerful message to young girls if rather than print pictures of naked women The Sun decided to celebrate the achievements of people like Jessica Ennis or Stephanie Roche, the woman who was shortlisted for FIFA’s Goal of the Year award this month.” Irishwoman Roche was pipped for the distinguished FIFA Puskas Award by James Rodriguez’s stunning goal for Colombia against Uruguay during last summer’s World Cup.

The SNP’s Stuart McMillan MSP described topless models appearing in newspapers as a thing of the past, adding: “Modern society is more aware of the issue of equality and Page Three doesn’t harness equality”.