Dear All
Kenny MacAskill should never have been
appointed the Justice Minister of Scotland.
When MacAskill was given one of the big
three posts in the Scottish Government, it wasn’t because he was “talented” as
Salmond would have you believe, it was because of he was Salmond’s pal.
Other reasons which helped him remain as
Justice Minister where there is a serious lack of talent in the Scottish
National Party and the Salmond ran the SNP as a little more than a cult for the
benefit of a small group.
MacAskill’s career has been dogged by
failure, his greatest failure was to release Al Megrahi, the biggest mass
murderer in modern Scottish history who he let leave Scotland’s jurisdiction.
The stigma of Al Megrahi is a continual bad
smell of this SNP Government. The SNP said Al Megrahi’s release it was done on
compassion but many people believe it was done to stick two fingers up to the
British Government over their prisoner transfer policy with Libya.
Kenny MacAskill is under pressure to resign
when his future as Justice Secretary is debated at Holyrood, but he shouldn’t
get the option to resign, he should be publicly sacked.
Leading the charge is the Labour Party who
are going with MacAskill’s handling of controversial policies in policing and
court reform.
MSP Graeme Pearson has lodged a motion
claiming the Justice Secretary has ‘’failed to provide effective governance’’
of Police Scotland.
I proposed Police Scotland at the SNP
National Assembly in September 2010, what you have now is different from what I
proposed, the third lock of accountability was removed and the Justice Minister
was little better than a puppet. MacAskill spent his time as Justice Minister sucking
up to the Crown Office instead of doing what he should have done which was
stand above it. The role of the Justice Minister is to ensure fair trials in
Scotland; MacAskill’s views were far too biased for the role.
His catalogue of failure includes the
stop-and-search of children, armed police on routine patrols, claims about the
“manipulation” of crime figures and my personal favourite standing beside the
confiscated cars of drugs dealers like an Arthur Daley character.
Spokesman for outgoing Alex Salmond has
dismissed the move as a “pathetic stunt” and said Mr MacAskill has presided
over a near 40-year low in recorded crime.
The 40 years low is not down to MacAskill.
Pearson, Labour’s justice spokesman, said:
“The cross-party support for our calls for
Kenny MacAskill to resign highlights that the Justice Secretary is fast losing
the confidence of parliament. It is only a Government majority that will be
able to save his position but I call on SNP members to put the integrity of the
justice system ahead of party politics. His position is untenable”.
MacAskill’s position was untenable years
ago, this debate should have been called years ago.
Pearson added:
“His inability to effectively manage his
portfolio, from corroboration to stop-and-searches, court closures to attacks
on the Supreme Court, highlights the need for the Cabinet Secretary to do the
honourable thing and jump before Nicola Sturgeon pushes him. The arming of
police during routine duties was just the final nail in a coffin that is full
of blunders and embarrassments”.
So, the question now arises can Scotland’s Deputy
First Minister unpopular Nicola Sturgeon do the right thing?
If she does, she will also have to remove
Alex Neil for lying to the Parliament, and it also follows that Mike Russell
must also be history in any reshuffle.
The problem isn’t getting rid of people,
the problem is that there is no real talent to draw on, Salmond ran the
Scottish National Party as a ‘rat ship’, he and others firewalled their
positions to keep them in power, their members are basically ignorant and the
vast majority of their MSPs are dross, little better than sheep with no
independent thought.
Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie demanded
MacAskill’s resignation last week after Police Scotland’s u-turn on the arming
of police on routine patrols.
Although MacAskill got that right, it was
done at the wrong time; again, massive error in judgment, Police Scotland would
only be an armed force if Scotland became independent as a backup for the
military. This was my idea for stage two of reform of Police Scotland, stage
one was botched as the SNP clique sought to claim ownership of my idea that
they couldn’t think through.
Scottish Conservative chief whip John
Lamont said the justice secretary had “messed up” on crucial issues such as
ending corroboration; this is the requirement for evidence in Scottish criminal
trials to come from two sources - court closures and armed police.
On the issue of corroboration, this is one
of the most serious charges against MacAskill which demands his removal from
the post of Justice Minister; it is so clear cut that there is no wiggle room
there.
A mistake was made appointing MacAskill as
Justice Minister, that mistake so far has lasted seven years, given his
inability to learn, it is time to close the book, MacAskill is an affront to
justice.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow
University
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