SNP goes to court over debate exclusion

The Scottish National Party has confirmed plans to go to court today in an attempt to force the BBC to give its leader Alex Salmond a presence on Thursday's leader's debate.

In a statement yesterday, the party said that it has managed to raise £50,000 to fund the legal challenge, just 48 hours after launching an appeal for the money.

SNP officials will now ask for an urgent hearing by judges at the Court of Session in Edinburgh ahead of the BBC's prime ministerial debate on April 29.

Salmond believes that the corporation is in breach of its guidelines for maintaining impartiality by denying him the chance to participate alongside Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg in the discussion.

He will therefore ask the court to force the BBC to allow him to appear on the programme, or set up an additional debate involving all four leaders to discuss issues facing people in Scotland.

The SNP could even ask the court to prevent Thursday's debate programme from airing in Scotland if the BBC refuses to agree to its request.

Celebrating the party's successful fundraising appeal, SNP deputy leader and deputy first minister Nicola Sturgeon said that the speed of response shows the support for their cause.

"This has been an absolutely fantastic response to our appeal, and on behalf of the party I want to thank all of those who have contributed to the fighting fund, however large or small their donation," she said.

"The fact that we have been able to raise this money in a day and a half simply underlines the strength of feeling people across Scotland have on this issue and the BBC's refusal - despite its clear duties as a national broadcaster - to properly and fairly reflect the political make-up of this country."

She added: "Donations have come in from ordinary Scots who simply share our anger at the way Scotland has been treated by the BBC. We will now take our case to the Court of Session where we will argue that basic fairness and democracy should prevail."

The SNP is particular concerned by the upswing of UK-wide popularity for the Liberal Democrats following the first two debates on ITV1 and the Sky News channel.

The party is worried about their comparative slump in the poll ratings and a decline in donations as the Lib Dems benefit from the new campaigning platform.

However, the BBC Trust rejected a joint appeal last week from the SNP and Welsh nationalist party Plaid Cymru over their exclusion from the corporation's debate.

The Trust said that the BBC's efforts to provide balanced election coverage have been "reasonable and adequate to maximise the achievement of due impartiality".

BBC Scotland's recently retired head of legal affairs Alistair Bonnington claimed that the Edinburgh court will most likely join the Trust in rejecting the SNP's latest application.

Speaking to The Guardian, Bonnington said that the SNP has failed to legally challenge ITV and Sky's prime ministerial debate, despite all three programmes being arranged as a collaborative effort.

He also said that the SNP is not fighting a UK-wide election campaign and so it cannot be compared with the larger parties.

"In England, a court would have said this is ridiculous, you've had your chance, we're not going to listen to you," said Bonnington.

"We've got parties in Wales, we've got parties in Northern Ireland and we've got parties in Scotland, but none of them are standing to be the government of the UK, so quite rightly they're treated differently."