Scottish independence: Anger over ‘slur’ on legal experts made by Mike Russell

A SCOTTISH Government minister has branded a forum on independence – which includes some of country’s most eminent legal figures – as a “kangaroo court”.

Education secretary Michael Russell was facing calls on Tuesday night to apologise for the “desperate slur”.

Lord Wallace, Advocate General for Scotland and a former deputy first minister, arranged the meeting in Edinburgh, claiming the Scottish Government has failed to provide credible answers to key questions on the country’s future after independence.

The objectivity of the forum, held in private, was questioned by the SNP, which suggested Lord Wallace has come to conclusions already.

Mr Russell made his comments on Twitter. “Yet another kangaroo court masquerading as ‘impartial’ – farcical,” he said.

After critical responses, he wrote: “To be clear – the experts involved are not a ‘kangaroo court’ but there can be no faith in conclusions drawn by Jim ‘#Iamthelaw’ Wallace.”

The experts in the group included Lord Wallace’s predecessor, Lord Davidson of Glen Clova, former judge Sir David Edward and professors from Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee, the Scotland Office said.

Also attending were Richard Keen QC, who represented the Lockerbie bomber’s co-accused, and Austin Lafferty, president of the Law Society of Scotland.

Scottish Conservative Deputy Leader, Jackson Carlaw, said: “This is a slur on some of Scotland’s most eminent law experts and not worthy of a Cabinet minister.

“This is yet another desperate remark from someone who is clearly feeling the pressure of his brief and rather than trying to row back on his comment he should show some humility and apologise.” Scottish Liberal Democrat education spokesperson Liam McArthur added: “It is incredulous that Scotland’s Education Secretary deems it appropriate to attack eminent and respected lawyers and professors. Scotland’s academic community will be disappointed that their own government minister has attacked their integrity in such a cheap and public way.”

But a Scottish Government spokesman said: “The Cabinet Secretary has made his position perfectly clear that these experts are not a ‘kangaroo court’, and therefore this draws a line under the matter.”

The forum yesterday was looking at the impact of independence on Scotland’s legal landscape, as well as the benefits of the current devolution set-up.

Lord Wallace said: “If Scotland is independent, Scotland is separate country. Some are trying everything to muddy the waters.

“To simply say Scotland will continue to be a member of the EU is too simplistic an answer.”

Apart from EU membership and keeping the pound, the UK is party to 14,000 multi-lateral and bilateral treaties with other countries around the world.

The future of all these agreements for Scotland would be thrown into doubt with independence.