Timothy and DFC, you both miss the point entirely. You wanted to know why Scottish took ages giving a clearance, and as I've explained twice now, it's because the emb*ggerence factor is appalling in that particular bit of airspace. The use of 500 ft altitudes is useless as a separation tool against IFR arrivals to Edinburgh and Glasgow because they are descending. Besides, do you really want to be 500 ft beneath a 757? The vortex wake could ruin your day.
In Canada, I work in Class C airspace. We assign hard altitudes and vector VFR traffic. Here as in the UK, I give the best service I can to all airspace users but that doesn't mean I have to like doing so if someone is exercising his "rights" without any consideration of the effect he's causing.
I already told you how to get the best service out of Edinburgh. Rather than banging on about your rights you might be better served trying a flight at the base level of the TMA, where said base level is 5,500 ft, with flight information from Scottish Information until 40 miles from EGPH at which point the latter will be happy to give you a RIS or a FIS. They will be happiest if you descend to 3,000 ft or below by 15 miles south of Edinburgh. If the active at EGPH is 06, 2,000 ft would be better still. If 24 is the active, 3,000 ft should be fine.
Now, if all you wanted was to make a dig at Scottish and/or Edinburgh for taking a while to get you a clearance, go right ahead. If you actually want to get a better service in the future and help ATC to help you, accept the above advice.
As an aside, no, we don't have to provide separation between IFR and VFR traffic in Class D, but we do generally strive to achieve more than the mere passing of traffic information. We have a moral obligation to prevent collisions as well as a legal one, and airline jockeys keep a keen eye on the TCAS display. If all they get is traffic information, they won't necessarily feel comfortable. Far better to provide a mile or two, or a thousand feet, for the sake of all involved.