The foot and mouth outbreak was never as bad in Scotland as in England according to Whitehall and the Scottish executive. Yet, at a time when (what remains of) the Scottish cattle industry needs action from its own Scottish Executive 'ministers' in Europe to get the cattle moving again, the Labour controlled London puppets are sitting back and waiting to see what London will do, even though farming is a 'devolved' issue to Scotland.

This is the same pathetic behaviour they showed over the BSE scares.

The SNP yesterday went directly to the European Commission asking for a lifting of the export ban on Scottish farm animals. Fergus Ewing, shadow rural development minister, accused the minister, Ross Finnie, of failing to represent Scotland properly by making his own approach to Brussels. Mr Ewing's move came after the Northern Ireland farm minister, Brid Rogers, personally lobbied commission officials to achieve a prompting lifting of the ban.

Mr Ewing accused Mr Finnie of being content to allow Westminster to talk for Scotland.