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BAGPIPERS have been effectively banned from the streets of London by city mayor Boris Johnson.

New rules designed for noisy buskers mean they cannot play within earshot of “flats, offices, shops or hotels.”

Lucrative tourist spots are now out of bounds for haunting airs from the Highlands.

Now furious pipers accuse Boris and his Greater London Authority of “suppressing the Scots.”

And former Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell is backing calls for the bagpipes to be given a reprieve.

He said: “Having been a ­bagpiping busker myself in my student days I am a great supporter of buskers in our towns and cities.

“They add a lot to life. Inevitably there are good and bad – that goes for any instrument – but the dismissive attitudes expressed in this advice reveal an unjustified bias against the pipes.

“I would certainly support any pipers who sought to have it changed.

”Mind you, given the nature of David Cameron’s so-called campaign, and his attempt to pit Scotland against England, it can’t be long before he and Boris Johnson ban bagpipes in London altogether.”

And Pat Sands, 58, who busks in London’s West End, said: “Boris should be ashamed of himself, especially during the centenary year of the First World War when over 300 pipers were killed on the Western Front.

“It would seem that Boris cannot help but to subconsciously carry on the English tradition of suppressing Scottish culture.

“We’ve been lumped in with electric guitars and ‘attack’ drums. Many pipers feel that we’ll be refused once licensing comes in and Boris has spoken before about how he finds them annoying.

“Most pipers can physically only play for up to an hour before moving on anyway.”

(Image: Getty/Oli Scarff)

The code of conduct lays out new rules for where to busk, complaint handling and money collection.

The pipes are classed as a “repetitive loud sound” and “piercing” - just like beatboxing, amplified guitars and hard “attack” sounds like drums.

It says they can all become “annoying quickly” and warns buskers to find locations with “no flats, offices, shops or hotels.”

The government classed it as “an instrument of war” after the Jacobite Uprising in 1745.

In 1746, piper James Reid, who led the army of Prince Charles Edward Stuart into battle at Cull­oden, was executed for carrying a set of pipes.

A spokeswoman for the mayor of London, said: “We’re enthusiastic about all musical instruments played by buskers, but we point out that some like electric guitars and bagpipes can have more of a noise impact and that musicians should consider this when dec­iding where exactly to play. It is clearly not a proscription against playing these instruments, and all the stakeholders who were involved in designing the code of conduct, buskers, the musicians union, local authorities, and the Met police would confirm this.

“Bagpipers are very welcome in London and we have many fantastic players. We also welcome feedback on the code of conduct.”

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