[This is the headline over a report on the Sky News website. It reads in part:]
The UK Government has been criticised for failing to keep Scottish ministers in the loop about negotiations involving the Lockerbie bomber.
Ministers should have considered telling Scotland the bomber was included in a prisoner transfer agreement with Libya before signing the deal, a committee of MPs has said.
The lack of communication was "regretable", a new report has concluded. (...)
Ministers in Westminster agreed a prisoner transfer deal with Libya in 2007.
After initially trying to exclude Megrahi from the agreement, Jack Straw admitted in letters to the Scottish Justice Secretary that he had been unable to do so. (...)
The [House of Commons] Scottish Affairs Committee looked at relations between the administrations in London and Edinburgh.
Its report concludes that ministers in Westminster should have told their colleagues in Scotland more about the agreement before they signed it.
In future, the UK Government must consider whether Scotland has a right to know more information. (...)
Shadow Scotland Secretary David Mundell MP said the report demonstrated that Labour had not managed to maintain good relations with the Scottish government.
"It beggars belief that during both a financial and diplomatic crisis, the Prime Minister and First Minister did not meet or even seemingly pick up the phone to each other in almost a year," he said.
[The BBC News report on the matter can be read here.
The Scottish Government's response to the Report includes the following:]
We welcome this report, including the recommendations in relation to the Memorandum of Understanding and the Prisoner Transfer Agreement between the UK Government and Libya - which UK Ministers initially chose not to inform Scottish Ministers about.
"This Scottish Government is committed to constructive and positive inter-governmental relations with the UK Government and the devolved administrations in Wales and Northern Ireland.
Sure they hatched it all. The Scottish government wanted Libya's oil, so they faked cancer and made up "compassion" and made the trade. America is so weak to let terrorist countries like that go without missile strikes. I mean both Libya and Scotland, BTW. Why doesn't England take over that place?
ReplyDeletesorry, couldn't help it.
That last comment was spam, but it wound up being almost appropriate for the Megrahi's birthday/easter season, so I'll preserve it in case it's deleted.
ReplyDelete"Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live."
There are quite a few people who had too few birthdays because of PA103. Let's quit blaming the patsies and find the real killers, what say?
copied from another post comments
ReplyDelete"Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live."
- Japanese spammer with good timing
There are quite a few people who had too few birthdays because of PA103. Let's quit blaming the patsies and find the real killers, what say?
oops. Multiple deletions now suggested.
ReplyDelete