Relations between Holyrood and Westminster deteriorated significantly last night after Alex Salmond accused the UK Government of a "disgraceful and disturbing" attempt to withhold £8m of aid from Scotland to deal with the aftermath of the foot-and-mouth outbreak.

The First Minister suggested the reason the money was withdrawn so hastily was because Gordon Brown last Friday finally pulled the plug on a snap General Election.

However, the charges drew an angry response from Whitehall. Hilary Benn, the Environment Secretary, declared: "There is not a word of truth in the allegation that a possible election had anything to do with decisions on funding for the foot-and-mouth crisis and I very much regret that this is being used in this way."

At the Scotland Office there was also anger with an insider accusing the First Minister of "abusing" inter-governmental confidential documents for "party political advantage" and suggested relations with Edinburgh would have to be reviewed in light of this.

The serious cross-border spat between the Scottish and UK Governments comes just 24 hours after the bitter statistical row over the financial settlement for Scotland which Alistair Darling hailed as an excellent one - £7.2bn over three years - but which Mr Salmond insisted had short-changed Holyrood, claiming in reality it amounted to just £1.1bn. The First Minister is now seeking an urgent face-to-face meeting with the Chancellor before the Scottish cabinet meets on Tuesday to discuss what it can and cannot implement for its programme of government in the next year.

At a press conference in the House of Commons, Mr Salmond released two documents, a draft of Mr Benn's statement to MPs, written on Friday, referring to £8.1m in aid to Scottish farmers, and the final version, which makes no mention of the aid but instead talks of how the devolved administrations were "proposing to introduce their own schemes".

The First Minister asked: "Why, on Friday, when the election seemed certain to be announced, was anything possible, but by Monday, when the election had been ruled out, was the commitment exp-unged? What changed between Friday and Monday?" He added: "Scottish farmers will be furious at this disgraceful and disturbing attempt by Defra to renege on their responsibilities. I have written to the Prime Minister demanding an explanation."

Last night, a Defra spokesman offered no explanation for the discrepancy between the statements, saying: "We don't comment on internal documents or provide commentary on discussions with other departments."

However, there was clear anger in the Scotland Office at Mr Salmond's accusation. A senior source told The Herald that the UK Government shared confidential documents with officials of all governments on a regular basis.

"I can't think when a minister has abused that confidence and tried to make party political capital out of the internal government process."

Accusing the First Minister of throwing the inter-governmental process into "disarray", he warned: "After this, we will have to consider very seriously what information we share."

The row over an alleged breach of confidentiality follows earlier concerns about the sharing of information between Westminster and Holyrood over the attempted terrorist attack in Glasgow.

It also follows the dispute in June over the fate of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi, the Lockerbie bomber, and the deal with Libya over the transfer of prisoners.

Mr Salmond again complained over the "squeeze" on Scotland's public finance in the wake of the spending review and said that he wanted talks with the Treasury to "reshape" the proportion of funding over the next three years to give "even-strength increases, which makes sensible planning of public expenditure possible".

The First Minister insisted that in 2008/9 a rise of just 0.5% or £135m would mean finances would be placed in a "very severe position". He said he wanted at least 1.4%.

Mr Salmond explained the best way to approach the matter was for the three devolved administrations, facing similar positions, to lobby the Treasury. Asked if this would mean seeking a meeting with Mr Darling, he replied: "These things at the end of the day are better discussed face to face."

Mr Darling insisted no request for such a meeting had been received. He said: "Scotland has got every last penny of its entitlement under the Barnett Formula. Nothing has changed from previous pro-cesses and the £30bn it will receive by 2010/11 is twice what Donald Dewar had in 1999."

A Treasury spokesman also ruled out reshaping the settlement, saying, as it was based on Barnett, "the Treasury can make no changes to the timing of the increases".

Farmers' leaders last night accused Westminster of ducking "moral responsibility" for the foot-and-mouth outbreak. President of the National Farmers' Union in Scotland, Jim McLaren, said: "It would appear the UK Government had accepted that principle, but over the weekend or on Monday changed its mind.

"We want to know why this U-turn came about."




The two versions


DRAFT FMD STATEMENT - OCTOBER 8: "I have also agreed with the Chief Secretary to the Treasury that Scotland should receive £8.1m and Wales £6.5m to assist them in countering the impacts of foot-and-mouth on their livestock farmers."

SECRETARY OF STATE'S STATEMENT - OCTOBER 8: "I am announcing today a package of assistance for the English livestock sector amounting to £12.5m. The devolved administrations are proposing to introduce their own schemes."