HC Deb 21 April 1998 vol 310 cc588-9
29. Mr. Tam Dalyell (Linlithgow)

If he will make a statement on the Lord Chancellor's role in drafting the Scotland Bill. [37643]

The Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department (Mr. Geoffrey Hoon)

As chairman of the ministerial committee on devolution to Scotland, Wales and the English regions, the Lord Chancellor was much involved in securing collective agreement to the policy content of the Scotland Bill. The actual drafting of the legislation, as is normal practice, was carried out by parliamentary counsel, on instruction from the Scottish Office, acting under ministerial direction.

Mr. Dalyell

If The Times is to be believed, the Lord Chancellor himself claimed, I wrote it. All of it"— "it" being the Scotland Bill. Who will be responsible for Lockerbie—Holyrood or Westminster, the Crown Office or the Lord Chancellor's Department? In the light of the answer to Question 3 to the Secretary of State for Scotland this afternoon, and the lazy attitude of the Crown Office over the years, some of us hope that it will be the Lord Chancellor's Department.

Mr. Hoon

All criminal prosecutions in Scotland proceed at the instance of the Lord Advocate of the day. That will remain the case after the devolution legislation comes into force. More broadly, the handling of the international aspects of the Lockerbie incident, including any Security Council matters, is the responsibility of my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary.

In any further proceedings in the International Court of Justice, the United Kingdom will be represented by a team selected in the usual way by my right hon. and learned Friend the Attorney—General. At present, the Lord Advocate leads the team, and I understand from my right hon. and learned Friend that he has no plans to change that arrangement.

Mr. Alex Salmond (Banff and Buchan)

Is the Minister seriously saying, as his Scottish Office colleagues declined to say in response to earlier questions, that if the Scottish Parliament decided to accede to the move to hold such a trial in another country but under Scottish jurisdiction, Westminster would try to frustrate such a move, which is widely supported by public opinion in Scotland, and even by the hon. Member for Linlithgow (Mr. Dalyell), who at last has found a reason for supporting a Scottish Parliament?

Mr. Hoon

The hon. Gentleman is tempting me yet further from my proper ministerial responsibilities. I am sure that if he renews his question to my right hon. and hon. Friends who are responsible for those matters, they will give him a full answer.

Mrs. Eleanor Laing (Epping Forest)

On the matter of gender balance in the new Scottish Parliament and whether the law should be changed to achieve it, have the Government taken the Lord Chancellor's advice or the entirely conflicting advice of Ms Cherie Booth QC?

Mr. Hoon

I am tempted to respond to that ingenious question by referring the hon. Lady to the answer that I gave a few moments ago; but the answer is neither.