John Swinney, SNP spokesman said: "The ban is a nonsense which has no public support and is impeding the return of Scottish beef to its vital export markets."

John is WRONG on this, the SNP are WRONG on this issue. The BSE situation is still grave and until ALL cattle are proven to be free from the infection the beef should be treated with caution and consumers need to be protected.

This mess came about as greedy farmers fed infected sheep based feed to their cattle, unfortunately.

The Scottish parliament needs to legislate to get a clean bill of health for Scottish stock and KEEP IT THAT WAY. the and only then lift the bone in beef ban.