Meeting of the Parliament 16 December 2025 [Draft]
The Scottish Liberal Democrats take no pleasure in this debate. We came to the view that today’s vote is regrettable, and it was avoidable. When we deliberated on our response to the motion of no confidence, our discussion was tainted by a collective feeling of disappointment, not least because colleagues expressed much personal good will towards the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs. On a personal level, I thank Ms Constance for the constructive attitude that allowed me to successfully progress my victims proposals in a Government bill.
However, in politics, people sometimes make mistakes. To err is, of course, human. It is not for me to decide whether the cabinet secretary purposefully or inadvertently misrepresented the views of a well-respected judicial figure, but the correct course of action would have been to immediately correct the record and apologise to the Parliament, to Professor Jay and to the victims, who should be at the centre of all our attention. There has been ample opportunity for that to happen in recent months. There has been ample opportunity to take ownership of the error. Instead, junior ministers have been put up to shield the cabinet secretary from the flak.
It is three months to the day since the cabinet secretary made the erroneous assertion and the argument was presented to the Parliament—an argument against a Conservative amendment, which we supported, to establish a bespoke inquiry into group-based child exploitation in Scotland.
In response to the First Minister’s comments today, I will say that I re-read the Official Report of the meeting, and there is no ambiguity about what was said or how it could be interpreted—none whatsoever.
In our view, the correct and proper response to that would have been a simple statement of correction in the chamber, which could have put the matter to bed. That is why we believe that the vote today is the inevitable result of a series of events that could have been avoided, and the matter resolved.
We bear the justice secretary no ill will. We do not subscribe to any great sensationalist theory of conspiracy on her part, nor do we see any opportunism in any of this whole sorry saga. Indeed, the substance of the original debate from which all of this stems merits gravitas that it has not always been afforded in this place. When ministers place on the record a view that is based on false representation, the code demands that the record be put straight, with absolute candour, and that is yet to happen.
The Scottish justice system is in upheaval and crisis in equal measure. It is undergoing some of the most substantial changes in centuries, starting with the removal of the not proven verdict. Our prisons are in a state of crisis and a condition that neither rehabilitates prisoners nor keeps people safe, either inside or outside them. Serious violent crime and domestic violence are on the increase in far too many areas in Scotland. Victims and the accused are waiting years for their trials to come to pass. Our police force survives only on the good will of officers and, largely, overtime and, of course, our drugs death crisis continues to be our national shame.
We are in such a critical period. Our justice sector needs to be led from the front and with confidence. The justice secretary in their role must command the confidence not just of the whole Parliament but of every cog in the judicial wheel. Most importantly, they must command the confidence of victims, particularly those who have suffered the most horrendous and unimaginable trauma and abuse, who now tell us directly that that confidence has been lost.
Given that point alone, we will vote in favour of the motion. However, irrespective of the outcome, it is important that we all continue to act and work constructively and sensibly with the minority Government in this Parliament, as it is right to do so. Lessons can and must be learned from this and from the Government’s unacceptable response to the events that have led us to today’s vote.
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