Alex Salmond: "Blatant hostility"

Speaking on BBC Two's Newsnight Scotland programme on Wednesday, Mr Salmond said that he had seven meetings with Mr Dewar after Labour's 1997 election victory.

He said: "The purpose was to construct a common platform that would take us successfully though the referendum campaign."

Mr Salmond said that Mr Dewar - then Scottish Secretary and later first minister - assured him that the issue of MSP cuts would "be revisited".

He said that Mr Dewar said it was "inconceivable" that the issue of cuts could be forced through over the head of the Scottish Parliament and that the late first minister did not expect this to happen.

The former SNP leader said this commitment was made public the following year in the House of Commons by Mr Dewar's successor, Henry McLeish, who was then a minister of state for Scotland.

'Complete fantasy'

Mr Salmond said he felt compelled to raise this issue now as Mr Dewar had since died and "Henry is out of the game".

He also cited what he called the "blatant hostility" of some backbench Labour MPs to the Scottish Parliament and said it was necessary to ensure that this did not affect the current review of numbers.

But Mr Salmond's comments were disputed by Scotland Office Minister George Foulkes who challenged him to produce "documentary evidence" of any agreement.

George Foulkes: "Complete fantasy"

Speaking on the same programme, Mr Foulkes accused Mr Salmond of indulging in "complete fantasy" and trying to "rewrite history".

"It is really quite ridiculous to suggest that Alex Salmond could have extracted any kind of promises out of Donald Dewar," he said.

"I think it was the other way around."

When asked if he thought Mr Salmond was making this up, Mr Foulkes agreed.

He added: "I would challenge him to produce any kind of evidence whatsoever to substantiate these claims."

Scotland Act

Mr Foulkes conceded that there was a commitment to "revisit" the issue of MSP and Scottish MP numbers but said this was currently being done through the current review being undertaken by Scottish Secretary Helen Liddell.

But he denied that anything concrete had been agreed between Mr Dewar and Mr Salmond.

Under the terms of the Scotland Act the number of MSPs is linked to the number of Scottish MPs at Westminster.

The Act contains proposals to reduce the number of MPs some time after 2007 - a move which would necessitate a reduction in the number of MSPs to keep the same ratio of representation.

Under the review currently being conducted these plans could be revised - either in favour of the cut being brought forward or being abandoned indefinitely.