SNP says Scots Law Ignored Over Bill

SNP calls for clarification on anti-terror bill

The SNP is demanding clarification from Scottish secretary Alistair Darling about the Scots law advice given for the anti-terror bill.

Party leader Alex Salmond claims he has received a letter from the lord advocate in which he makes clear that he was not asked and did not offer advice to the home secretary on the Scots Law implications of the bill. Home secretary Charles Clarke has said that the Scotland's top government legal adviser had not been consulted on the question of 90 days detention clause which resulted in the government¹s first defeat in the Commons.
The SNP now say it has now been confirmed that there was no consultation beyond official level on any aspect of the bill, including the controversy on the implications for free speech and civil liberties. Salmond said: "This is a sorry state of affairs for Scotland and Scots law. If the home secretary had not sought the advice of the attorney general on the terror bill, then he would have had to resign. "The UK has two distinct and equal legal systems, and the fact the Home Office did not ask for the view of any Scottish law officer on this crucial piece of legislation beggars belief. "However, it also seems that the advocate general, who is supposed to speak for Scots law in Westminster, was asleep at her post. "The secretary of state for Scotland doesn't know while the first minister isn't rated, leaving the lord advocate to pass the buck back to the advocate general. "The fact is that Scots law has been sidelined by the Home Office and our law officers were silent bystanders. What a sorry state of affairs. "The Scottish secretary needs to clarify exactly what happened over this important piece of legislation and to guarantee a full role for Scotland's law officers from this point on."