The Scottish National Party has attacked what it calls "an obsession with Britishness" and called for control of television and radio broadcasting to be transferred from Westminster to the new Scottish parliament in Edinburgh.
Ms Roseanna Cunningham, the SNP's Broadcasting spokeswoman, said the failure to devolve broadcasting was "explicable only in terms of the obsession with Britishness that has damaged the interests of Scottish viewers and listeners for too long". She confirmed that the SNP would table an amendment to the Scotland Bill when it comes before the House of Commons next month seeking to transfer scrutiny of broadcasting legislation to cross border bodies and regulatory structures which would be accountable to the proposed Scottish parliament.
The SNP move signals the start of the long legislative haul for the Scotland Bill, which must complete its parliamentary stages by the end of next year to pave the way for elections to the 129-strong Edinburgh parliament in mid-May 1999.
Ms Cunningham said the interests of Scottish viewers and listeners had for too long been a secondary concern. "A real Scottish broadcasting system would greatly enhance our national life , and indeed, without a devolved Scottish broadcasting system our national life will be diminished."
Citing the example of Catalan television in Spain which is under the control of the Catalan government, she said: "Television is considered a vital part of their culture. This is an example Scotland should follow. Given that the BBC in Scotland raises substantially more licence fee than it spends, and given that the STV and Grampian group is profitable and self-sufficient, the devolution of Scottish broadcasting is a step that can be taken without substantial difficulty."
Ms Cunningham went on: "Broadcasting is an enormously important national institution and a vital part of Scottish life and culture. It should therefore not be a power reserved to London but instead be an area protected and developed by the Scottish parliament."
The Foreign Secretary, Mr Robin Cook, has made light of speculation that he is planning to quit Westminster in order to run for the post of First Minister - in effect prime minister - in the new parliament, which will assume office in January 2000, while a survey of Scotland's 72 MPs suggests only a handful may be planning to leave Westminster to seek seats in Edinburgh.
Meanwhile a number of Scottish and Welsh Labour MEPs are reportedly among those "taking soundings" before deciding whether to join six MEPs who have announced their intention to split from the party and fight the next European elections as Independent Labour candidates.
The six announced their move - the first serious challenge to the new government from the left - as Mr Blair faces a potentially explosive row over attempts to remove unreliable or elderly Euro MPs from the party's approved list of candidates and to replace them with a new breed of Euro experts cut in the Blairite mould.
At the weekend, two leaders of the rebellion, Mr Ken Coates and Mr Hugh Kerr, wrote to their party members canvassing support for their intention to run in 1999 as protest candidates.
They calculate that disaffection with the government over benefit cuts and other policies could give them more than the necessary 10 per cent share of the vote they would need to retain their seats under Britain's first election using proportional representation.