Edinburgh: Share of cash under threat?

Government funding to Scotland could be cut if Labour wins a third term, nationalists have warned.

SNP leader Alex Salmond wrote to the prime minister calling on him to spell out his plans for the Barnett formula, which governs the allocation of Treasury cash between the home nations.

The Scottish nationalists have made a Freedom of Information Act request for any official documents on the future of the Barnett formula.

A response to the request confirmed that material exists but will not be released, because it relates to the formulation of government policy, which is an area exempt from disclosure rules.

"First this decision makes a mockery of the Freedom of Information legislation. Second, what do you have to hide?" Salmond asked Tony Blair in a letter.

"The request was clear. We asked for information on the amendment, reform or the scrapping of Barnett, and this is what you have. You are hiding the truth.

"The political reality is that if Barnett is reformed it will only go one way, and that will mean huge cuts and fewer teachers, nurses and doctors in Scotland.

"It will mean less help for pensioners and even higher council tax bills."

Iceberg

Salmond said it was not just the Conservatives which "have a secret agenda of spending cuts for Scotland".

"This is an iceberg that can sink Labour's campaign in Scotland - Blair's Barnett cut will make Tory cuts look like chicken feed," he added.

"Whether it is Tory cuts or Labour cuts, devolution can't protect Scotland.

"A Labour attack on Barnett will mean fewer teachers in Dundee and Aberdeen, and fewer doctors and nurses in Inverness, Clackmannanshire and Tayside - all at a time when Scotland's burgeoning oil revenues are moving to record levels."