Scottish government loses Lockerbie vote

Published on Wednesday 2 September 2009 18:03

THE SCOTTISH Government was defeated tonight in a Holyrood vote on the Lockerbie affair.

Opposition parties defeated the SNP in a series of votes on the decision by Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill to free Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi from prison on compassionate grounds.

In the final vote, the Government was defeated by 73 votes to 50, with one abstention.

SNP ministers had asked the Parliament to endorse Mr MacAskill's decision as "consistent with the principles of Scottish justice".

Before the final result was announced, Scots Tory leader Annabel Goldie said: "This was a bad day for Alex Salmond's Government and for the First Minister himself.

"Releasing the Lockerbie bomber was a bad decision, made badly."

A series of four votes saw the Scottish Government defeated by 73 votes to 50, with one abstention each time.

First, MSPs backed a Tory amendment saying the possibility of releasing Megrahi to a location in Scotland was not adequately explored.

Then they backed a Liberal Democrat amendment critical of Mr MacAskill announcing his decision to free Megrahi at a press conference, rather than in Parliament.

The Lib Dem amendment said: "Justice and compassion for the victims' families have not been served by this process."

Then the MSPs backed a Labour amendment which accused Mr MacAskill of mishandling the process, and disagreeing with the decision to return

Megrahi to Libya on compassionate early release.

A final confirmatory vote saw the Labour, Tory and Lib Dem amendments passed, again by 73 votes to 50 with one abstention.

This had the effect of overwriting an SNP motion which had urged MSPs to endorse Mr MacAskill's decision as "consistent with the principles of Scottish justice".

Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray said after the vote: "The Scottish Parliament has made clear its opposition to both the decision to release Megrahi to Libya and the woeful handling of the decision and announcement."

He went on to call for the Parliament's Justice Committee to examine "as a matter of urgency" those areas of concern that fell within Holyrood's remit.

"The documents published by the Scottish Government on Tuesday cover a great deal of ground but they need to be examined forensically by a committee inquiry," he said.

"I call on every Parliamentarian to back this call so we can begin to get closer to the truth."

HOW THEY VOTED

The Scottish Government was defeated today in a 73-50 vote, with one abstention, following a debate on the decision to release Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi.

MSPs voted for a Labour amendment which argued that Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill mishandled the decision-making process.

Tory and Liberal Democrat amendments to the Labour amendment, which further criticised the process, were backed by the same margin.

MSPs then voted unanimously to approve the general principles of the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Bill.

MSPs also voted unanimously to support proposed membership of the Committee of the Regions and the Regional Chamber of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe.