The clearance operation followed a decade-long row over unauthorised plots on the six-acre site.

BBC: Dale Farm traveller site arrests: Council drops action

The row involving Mr Holder centres on a botched operation to curb gun-running from America to Mexico run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), a division of the Justice Department.

ECONOMIST: Executive authority v congressional oversight

They are determined to get back on track after the row about House of Lords reform de-railed co-operation between their two parties.

BBC: Coalition: derailed or back on track?

The row over quarrying at the site began after permission for a small scale operation was granted by the then Stirling District Council in 1982, however there has been little activity at the site for the past 14 years.

BBC: Stirling Council suspends quarrying at Bannockburn site