Rumours abound that henry McLeish, the man closest to Tony Blairs heart as he cares for all those labour sheep in Scotland is begging, cap in hand to London for more cash to pay for elderly health care, a teachers pay rise and other promises made by LABOUR IN SCOTALAND to the idiots who voted Labour back into power a couple of months ago.

THE Scottish Executive yesterday denied a report which claimed that Henry McLeish, the first minister, was seeking £1bn from the Treasury to help meet spending commitments.

A Scottish 'executive' lackie said : "The suggestion that the first minister or the executive has asked the Treasury for any extra money is completely untrue. The executive's policy priorities, the distinctive Scottish policies to benefit the Scottish people, can all be afforded from the existing executive budget."

The Barnett formula returns only £26bn of all the taxes collected from Scotlands businesses, people and oil and gas every year - FAR LESS THAN WE GIVE TO LONDON.

Now McLeish will probably have to raise income tax in Scotland by up to 3% in the pound to pay for the effective cut in Scotlands repayment of taxes from London.

Only the SNP has promised to campaign hard for full fiscal auto-nomy for the parliament in the run-up to the 2003 Holyrood election.