The Tories covered up the severity of the BSE crisis, brought about by greedy farmers who fed infected animal parts to their cattle, to save on feed costs.

Many, but not all of these farmers were more affluent Tory voters who didn't want to see their beef off the shelves. The result is looking like hundreds of thousands of deaths over the next couple of decades.

Last night, an SNP spokesman said: "The Ministers responsible should not be allowed to get off the hook on this matter and should be held accountable for keeping Scotland in the dark about the developing BSE/CJD crisis in the 1980s."

Sir Michael Forsyth, former Scottish secretary, said this of the lack of information passing from Whitehall to the "Scottish Office" concerning the seriousness of the mad cow problem: "Forgetting about the Scots was thoughtlessness - it was not malicious." But he added: "I felt every minister in Whitehall, should have on their desk: 'Do not forget Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales'."

OR JUST FORGET THE SCOTS ALL WE WANT IS LABOUR VOTES, OIL, GAS AND CANON FODDER FROM THEM....