Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Lord Anderson of Swansea (Labour). It was answered on Monday, 12 October 2009.

Libya: Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi

Question: My Lords, is it not a reality that any representations as suggested would almost certainly have been resented by the Scottish Executive and therefore totally counterproductive? If we believe in devolution, and there is now a consensus in favour of the devolution settlement, we must allow for the consequences of devolution—which is the decision by the Scottish Executive.

Answer: My Lords, the point is that no pressure was exerted on the Scottish Executive. That was made clear by the Justice Secretary in the statement he made on 20 August. It would have been absolutely wrong for us to intervene in the case on foreign policy grounds because we would have been criticised very severely for doing so. Foreign policy was not among the criteria used by Scottish Ministers to reach that decision and that is an important factor. Clearly, as the noble Lord said, it was right under the terms of the devolution arrangements that all decisions on prisoners in the Scottish prison estate are taken exclusively by Scottish Ministers. Therefore, that was the recourse that we took.

Secondary information

Type: Oral question
Reference: 713 c4
Session: 2008-09
Oral question type: Supplementary
Chamber / Committee: House of Lords chamber
Subjects: Bombings Prisoners' release Lockerbie Libya al Megrahi, Abdelbasit Ali Mohmed Scottish Government
Link: View this Oral question on www.publications.parliament.uk