Scotland

Brown urges action on radioactive beach

Gordon Brown has repeated his demand for a face-to-face a meeting with Defence Secretary Philip Hammond to discuss radiation poisoning, it has emerged.

The ex-Prime Minister, who left Downing Street following Labour's general election defeat in May 2010, wants to discuss contamination in his constituency with Mr Hammond.

He first pleaded for the meeting last November, but has so far been left disappointed.

The latest revelation came in a written Parliamentary question to the Ministry of Defence from Mr Brown, who asked the Defence Secretary "when he expects his meeting with the Member for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath to discuss radiation contamination at Dalgety Bay to take place".

Junior defence minister Andrew Robathan failed to offer a date on Mr Hammond's behalf but said he would "answer shortly".

Mr Brown, who has faced criticism for seldom being seen around Westminster since being forced from No 10, raised the issue in the Commons last year when he called for "urgent action" to deal with radioactive particles found on the Fife beach.

Mr Brown branded the "dumped" material an "undeniable hazard" for people living nearby.

He told MPs: "They are particles which should be removed quickly ... and the urgent action is necessary not just because of risks to safety, but because the Scottish Environment Protection Agency has now stated publicly that unless the Ministry of Defence brings forward a remedial plan for the area, the agency will designate Dalgety Bay as a radioactive contaminated piece of land and this will be the first and only land to be designated as radioactive contaminated in the UK and they say that they will nominate the Ministry of Defence as the culpable party."