SCOTTISH Parliament and Welsh Assembly members demanded to know yesterday if snooping rules had been changed to let spooks monitor the communications of elected representatives.

Members of the devolved bodies spoke out as elected Green politicians asked security services watchdog the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) to examine claims that their personal communications had been monitored by GCHQ.

They say that would be a clear breach of the 1966 Wilson doctrine, stating that no MP’s communications should be tapped unless there is a major international emergency.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said that she was seeking urgent assurances from Prime Minister David Cameron after reports that rules had changed to exempt Holyrood, Cardiff Bay and Stormont from the Wilson doctrine.

If true, she is also asking the PM to reverse the policy.

Plaid Cymru AM Simon Thomas has also raised concerns over the alleged surveillance of Welsh Assembly Members with First Minister Carwyn Jones.

He said: “There are no grounds to removing the Wilson doctrine from devolved elected members other than the constant urge of the security services to extend their own reach and privilege. It is particularly sensitive in Northern Ireland and an affront to Welsh democracy.”

Green London Assembly Member Jenny Jones, who brought the initial case to the IPT, told the Star: “The more people probe into the government’s rules on surveillance, the more we realise how vague they are and open to reinterpretation by the security services.

“We’ve seen this on everything from undercover policing to the overuse of the Ripa laws [regulating public bodies’s surveillance powers].”