Scotland Office is occupied by anti-cuts protesters

The Scotland Office was occupied by the anti-cuts group which chased Labour leader Iain Gray out of a train station during the Holyrood election campaign.

Members of Citizens United Against Cuts to Public Services were in the office in Edinburgh for around an hour yesterday calling for public services to be saved. Around ten protesters occupied the building.

Group spokesman Sean Clerkin said: "We put the message across that the UK government should give more tax-raising and borrowing powers to the Scottish Parliament so it can finance Scotland's public services and reverse cuts. We also stressed the Scottish Government now has a clear mandate to fight against the cuts imposed by the coalition."

Police were called to the building but the protesters left of their own accord at 12.30pm. No ministers were in the building during the occupation.

The Citizens United intervened in a Labour election event at Glasgow's Central Station. Mr Gray tried to dodge their questions by escaping into a nearby sandwich shop.