 | 'In a highly unusual move, the Labour Party moved the writ for this by-election on November 29, for December 21, and it is clearly possible that one factor in their decision was the high level of publicity that would be generated by the Tony Blair interview.' SNP leader, John Swinney MP MSP, 11 th December 2000. |  |
As campaigning continued, John Swinney, the SNP leader, complained to Sir Robin Biggam, chairman of the Independent Television Commission, over the screening of ITV's Ask the Prime Minister, claiming the one-hour programme gave Labour unfair broadcasting coverage during the campaign.
"It totally contravenes the duty of broadcasters to promote fairness and impartiality, particularly within elections," he said, calling for the programme to be postponed until after the election, or for it not to be screened in Scotland.
Before council elections in 1995, legal action prevented a BBC Panorama interview with John Major, the then prime minister, being screened north of the border, and Mr Swinney said: "There are strong parallels with this case.
"In a highly unusual move, the Labour Party moved the writ for this by-election on November 29, for December 21, and it is clearly possible that one factor in their decision was the high level of publicity that would be generated by the Tony Blair interview.
"This is a matter of great political controversy, which it is totally inappropriate for ITV to be involved in," he added.
He was backed by Raymond Robertson, chairman of the Scottish Tories, who accused Labour of unfair play.
"Within a matter of days of an important by-election, it is quite disgraceful that the prime minister should be given such preferential treatment," said Mr Robertson.
"Television stations are required by law to be scrupulously impartial when it comes to airtime for political parties, and ITV's attempts to override this law is a matter of anxiety for all those concerned about the future of fair elections in this country."
A spokesman for ITV, confirming last night that the programme would go ahead, said: "The editorial team will ensure that questions or issues relating directly to that constituency are avoided during the programme."
Also yesterday, nationalists pledged to "hound" Eric Joyce, the Labour candidate, as they accused him of supporting a party which had made the NHS in Falkirk the worst in all Scotland.
Labour was championing its anti-drugs policy and Falkirk receiving the biggest increase in Scotland from the recent round of local government settlements.
Meanwhile, two senior Labour politicians were accused of breaching the Data Protection Act yesterday by Hugh O'Donnell, the Scottish Liberal Democrat fighting the by-election.
Mr O'Donnell described as unacceptable and a disgrace moves by Jack McConnell, education minister, and Frank Roy, MP for Motherwell and Wishaw, to circulate a letter to schoolchildren in their constituency.
He accused the two of persuading the North Lanarkshire education department to release names and ages of pupils moving to secondary school and of using the information, held on a data base, to send goodwill letters to them from the Labour Party.
- Dec 12
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