SSP wants to call Blair a liar

THE Scottish Socialist Party will go to court today in an effort to call Tony Blair a liar in an election broadcast.

The SSP is in dispute with Scottish TV and Grampian over the contents of a Party Election Broadcast.

The SSP claims the television companies are reluctant to show the broadcast because it accuses the Prime Minister of lying over the Iraq war.

An SSP spokesman said Scottish TV lawyers had insisted that the SSP will have to prove the claim or drop it from the broadcast.

The SSP has asked for a judicial review in an attempt to force Scottish TV and Grampian to show the broadcast in its entirety.

Peter Mullan, the award-winning actor and director, who made the broadcast, criticised the television companies for "dangerous political censorship".

Tommy Sheridan, the convener of the SSP, said: "There is hardly a person in Scotland who does not believe Tony Blair lied to us in relation to Iraq."

The BBC has withdrawn its concerns and said it will air the broadcast tomorrow night as planned.

A spokeswoman for STV said no final decision had been made. "The SSP has given us a tape and after looking at it we went back to them with a couple of questions about it.

"Basically we haven’t made a final decision about it being broadcast yet.

"We have a duty to make sure what we broadcast complies with the terms of our licence," she said.