MacAskill faces MSPs' fury on court vote and Canada trip

Published on Thursday 14 May 2009 22:04

OPPOSITION parties are considering an unprecedented vote of no confidence in Scottish justice secretary Kenny MacAskill.

The minister provoked fury among many MSPs after he ignored a vote last week to set up a community court in Glasgow.

He also came under fire after new evidence emerged about a junket he took to Canada in January instead of attending a conference at Holyrood on knife crime.

The Scotsman has learned that he turned down an interview with Canada's leading travel magazine, Travel Week, even though he was supposed to be promoting Scotland and the Year of Homecoming.

Labour, who discovered the information through Freedom of Information requests, said: "It is clear he only went to enjoy himself, not to promote Scotland."

However, the Scottish Government have said he had a full itinerary and met with a long list of leading Canadian officials and politicians.

In a statement to MSPs yesterday, Mr MacAskill claimed that the community court, which would have been a pilot scheme to deal with low level crime and speed up community sentencing, was too expensive because it would have cost nearer 1 million to set up than the estimated 750,000.

He warned that "in these difficult times" with 500 million coming off the Scottish block grant next year, the only way to pay for the new court was by cutting front-line services.

His statement drew a furious reaction from opposition parties who reminded him that on becoming leader of a minority government, Alex Salmond had pledged that the days of the executive "imposing its will on parliament" were over.

In a previous vote, the SNP had reluctantly agreed to fund 500 million for Edinburgh's trams because it commanded the support of a majority of MSPs.

Labour justice spokesman Richard Baker told The Scotsman afterwards that he and his party would support a motion of no confidence in Mr MacAskill.

"He just came up with the same excuses as last week," said Mr Baker. "This is not additional, as Mr MacAskill claimed, but essential for the progression of the justice system."

Conservative justice spokesman and convener of the Justice Committee Bill Aitken made a veiled threat in his response.

"We have lost confidence in the justice secretary on a range of issues," he told Mr MacAskill in the chamber.

Afterwards he said he was weighing up his options on a motion of no confidence, but he later suggested that the minister had one more chance.

Liberal Democrat justice spokesman Robert Brown branded Mr MacAskill's approach "a shambles" and said he should resign.

He added: "The Minister should be embarrassed to tell Parliament that the SNP holds its view in contempt."

During First Minister's Questions, Alex Salmond defended his colleague when Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray, mocked the minister for "making an official visit to a pub" in Canada instead of going to the knife crime conference.

Mr Salmond claimed that the responsible minister, community safety minister Fergus Ewing, was there.

He added: "The parliament should be ashamed of an opposition leader who treats one of the most serious subjects in society like this."

But a few weeks ago Mr Salmond, seemed to show he was losing confidence in Mr MacAskill when he gave responsibility for a bill on alcohol to health secretary Nicola Sturgeon. MacAskill's plans to set up a sentencing council has outraged judges who claim he is attacking their independence.

While politically embarrassing, a vote of no confidence would carry no weight unless two-thirds of MSPs voted for it, impossible if all SNP MSPs support Mr MacAskill.