KING Robert the Bruce may finally be vanquished at the stroke of an

advertising consultant's red pen.

But Mrs Pat Greenhill, the Conservative Provost of Stirling, which

uses the heroic mounted figure of the Scottish ruler in its corporate

logo, angrily denied SNP claims yesterday the council was out to insult

the warrior king's memory.

Mrs Greenhill, who chairs the policy and strategic planning committee,

dismissed the attack as ''a mere publicity stunt''.

She said: ''At present we have a logo which shows the castle under a

glass dome backed by a rainbow with Concorde flying out of it and King

Robert the Bruce in the backdrop.

''It was a logo devised for the Futureworld concept that has now been

dropped and we felt that a review was perfectly in order. After all, we

change telephone numbers later this year and we would have to reprint

all the council's stationery anyway.

''The SNP's claim that we are doing down Bruce's memory is utter

rubbish. We are very proud of Scotland's history and Stirling's part in

it. The consultant will advise us on a straightforward, modern image.''

Tory councillors feel that they are entitled to think again since the

logo is too expensive to maintain, costing #1000 a time to paint the

motif on council vehicles.

Mrs Greenhill added: ''We expect to have something more simplified,

and who knows what that might include. Nothing, and that includes Robert

the Bruce, is ruled out or in at this stage.''

SNP national executive member Fergus Ewing mocked the Tory moves as

showing ''the true anti-Scottish face of the Tory Party. Not content

with stealing our oil and plotting to steal our water, they now want to

ditch our history as well.

''The Stirling Tories clearly feel uncomfortable with the symbol of

Scottish liberty staring at them from every council document.

''This decision is all the more absurd since, in sheer commercial

terms alone, the close connections of both Robert the Bruce and William

Wallace with Stirling's history must be the best marketing weapons the

district has.''

It was on June 24, 1314, at Bannockburn that King Robert secured

Scotland's independence by vanquishing Edward 11's much larger army. The

SNP marks the victory each year with a march to the Borestone.