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Originally Posted by martyh
i think we "south of the border" are quite familiar with devolution and how it works Chris we get it rammed down our throats every time Scotland wants to play at being a country
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... and yet the rest of your post only goes to show that in reality, you don't have the first clue about how Scottish devolution works, or even how the Acts of Union work:
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in this case G brown should not have left such a huge descision like this to a second rater like kenny macaskill who only speaks for a very small part of the uk
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Scotland was guaranteed a distinct system of law right at the start of the Union, in the Acts of Union. It was a
Scottish court that tried and convicted Megrahi in the first place; not a 'UK' court. One of the reasons the Acts of Union guaranteed this was precisely to stop people like you demanding that Scotland should have less influence in the Union simply because it has a smaller population. Let's not forget, England has the capital, which is a huge draw attracting both people and resources, so the argument that Scotland is 'small' and (by extension) England is 'big' is a little self-serving, don't you think?
At the time of the original trial, prior to the Scotland Act which brought about devolution, this was overseen by the Scottish Office, which is a department of the UK Government. But now, post the Scotland Act, justice issues are entirely and exclusively decided by Scottish Ministers in Edinburgh.
Gordon Brown had no choice in the matter. For him to have taken the decision away from McAskill would have required an Act of Parliament to be passed at Westminster, partially repealing the Scotland Act. That would have been a political nuke of the kind that could very well trigger massive support for the SNP in Scotland, followed by a legitimate referendum, followed by loud, persistent and probably irresistible demands for the break-up of the UK. That is something that Gordon Brown does not want. Nor do I, for that matter.
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The original "deal"was to make anybody convicted serve their sentence in Scotland it should have been adhered to or a new trial held if their were doubts as to his guilt not this stupid compassionate grounds flimflam.
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Megrahi did serve his sentence in Scotland. He has not been transferred to Libya as a prisoner, he has been released and then deported.
Compassionate grounds is not unheard of by any means, for prisoners who are at death's door. Ronnie Biggs got out of jail on exactly the same pretext a matter of weeks ago. And that decision
was taken by Labour; by Jack Straw to be precise, because he is the justice minister responsible for such matters in England and Wales.
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So Chris you can "run along now" back to your "devoluted"country secure in the knowledge that the Scottish justice system has just let a mass murderer out of jail and probably secured an enormous propaganda coup to one of the worlds most hated men
Interesting to note also that Gaddafi has thanked the british gov aswell as the scottish so now tell me Brown wasn't involved
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That's 'devolved'. And yes, I am telling you that Brown wasn't involved. After all, if a true Brit like you doesn't have a clue how Scottish devolution works, why should you think Gaddafi has any better idea?