THE Scotland Bill must be amended to limit the right of the UK Supreme Court to intervene in Scottish criminal cases, MSPs agreed last night.
A full debate on this week’s interim report by the expert panel under Lord McCluskey was won comfortably by ministers, who say the full report in the autumn must be reflected in Westminster amendments so there will be the same brakes on Scottish criminal cases going to the UK Supreme Court as exist for English cases.
This means in practice that human rights appeals can only proceed if leave is given by that court and a certificate specifying a key point in law is granted. Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said: “The distinctiveness of Scots Law has been at the heart of our national identity and is something that we have a duty to preserve and uphold.
“That’s a view I know is widely upheld and it is not simply a party-political point. It is critically important that we maintain the identity and substance of Scots Law, the foundations on which our legal institutions stand.”
Mr MacAskill said that there was never any real intention that devolution should prevent the High Court from being at the apex of the Scots legal system.
He recognised the report did not recommend ending the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction, but said: “There is an urgent need to resolve these problems.”
Labour’s justice spokeswoman Johann Lamont said the report was a rebuttal of Mr Salmond and Mr MacAskill’s stance on the Supreme Court. She said: “If you recall, the First Minister and the Cabinet Secretary argued that there should be no role for the Supreme Court in Scotland’s judicial system, not when we get independence, but no role now.
“There was an argument that the Supreme Court was somehow predatory upon the Scottish courts, that somehow the Supreme Court routinely sought to interfere and that Scottish judges sitting in London were somehow not able or competent enough to address issues of Scottish law.”
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