Meeting of the Parliament 08 May 2024
This is now the third time that I have sought to make a change to the business that the Scottish Government has proposed. I am proposing that the Parliament should hear from the Lord Advocate, with members staying back for just 30 minutes tomorrow. The Scottish National Party and the Greens refused such a proposal last week and, again, yesterday. I hope that the Parliament can now unite and agree to members staying behind for just 30 minutes tomorrow to hear from the Lord Advocate.
The Minister for Parliamentary Business will rightly say that, at the heart of this—those we have to be concerned about—are the sub-postmasters who were wrongly convicted because of the Horizon scandal. I agree whole-heartedly with what George Adam has said in that regard, but they are not being served at all if we are still unclear about the Lord Advocate’s position.
We know that nothing has changed as a result of the reshuffle today. Not a single front-bench portfolio has changed—the people are still there, and they are doing exactly the same jobs—so we know that Angela Constance will take through the Horizon bill in the coming weeks. What we do not know is what the head of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service in Scotland thinks about the issue, and we do not know what she thinks as a member of the Scottish Government’s Cabinet. The minister has said repeatedly that there is no need for any further clarity, but there is.
A lot of SNP and Green members are in the chamber. I am happy to give way to any SNP or Green member who can tell me whether the Lord Advocate still believes that it would be wrong to have a process to enable mass exoneration for sub-postmasters.