Nationalists demand equal access to report

THE SNP and Welsh Nationalist Plaid Cymru have joined forces to demand the same access to the Hutton Report as the main opposition parties at Westminster.

Last week, it emerged that Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, will receive a copy of the report 24 hours before it is made public.

The Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats attacked the move after they were told they would receive it only six hours before its publication.

Now the SNP and Plaid Cymru have written to the Prime Minister demanding the same access to the Hutton Report as the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.

Alex Salmond MP said: "The SNP and Plaid Cymru group are the third-largest opposition force in the House of Commons and our parties represent the principal opposition parties in Scotland and Wales.

"The job of holding Tony Blair and the government to account over the Hutton Report does not rest with one or two parties.

"It is a shared, democratic responsibility to do so on behalf of the people that we represent."

Mr Salmond said the decisions surrounding the release of the report represented a "Westminster establishment carve-up" to exclude the SNP and Plaid Cymru from advance sight of the Hutton Report.

"That is not acceptable and we are demanding parity of treatment with the other opposition parties," added Mr Salmond.

"The specific issue of whether Mr Blair misled MPs and the public about his role in the naming of Dr David Kelly is important, but so is the fact that the Prime Minister took the country to war under false pretences - we need to focus on both of these issues."