John Swinney confirms no decision on splitting lord advocate dual role until after Holyrood election
SNP ministers have had a key research paper on splitting the Lord Advocate’s dual role since last summer but missed a vow to publish it by the end of 2025.
John Swinney will not decide on whether to split the dual role of the Lord Advocate until after May’s election - insisting the current set-up is “appropriate”.
The First Minister told MSPs that research commissioned by former chief executive of the Scottish Law Commission, Malcolm McMillan, would be published before the election - despite a peer review on the paper having concluded six months ago and a previous vow to make it public by the end of 2025.
The dual role of Scotland’s top prosecutor and also the Scottish government’s chief legal adviser has been under the microscope for a number of years.
The 2021 SNP manifesto committed to consulting on whether the Lord Advocate’s dual role “should be separated”.
The issue has reignited after the current Lord Advocate, Dorothy Bain, was accused of misleading parliament over briefings she gave the First Minister in relation to the embezzlement charges faced by former SNP CEO Peter Murrell.
Asked by Conservative justice spokesperson, Liam Kerr, when the Scottish Government will “publish its proposals” to reform the roles of the Lord Advocate, Mr Swinney said: “A draft research paper on the law officers’ roles and functions setting out factual information, context and analysis, was undertaken by the former chief executive of the Scottish Law Commission, Malcolm McMillan.
“It was subsequently peer reviewed and will be published before the end of parliamentary term.
“While the Scottish government is considering whether any change might be desirable, it considers that the current position is appropriate.”
But concerns were raised by Lib Dems justice spokesperson, Jamie Green, that any proposed overhaul could be “kicked into the long grass of the next parliament”.
In response, Mr Swinney warned that “parliamentary time is limited between now and the election”.
He added: “This is going to be an issue that the next parliament is going to have to consider. But it will be able to do that with the dispassionate research evidence produced by Malcolm McMillan that will be available to inform debate.
“There has to be thorough and substantial debate on this question because there are very significant constitutional issues that are raised by this particular point. That has to be carefully considered by the parliament before it acts.”
But answers to parliamentary questions reveal that the peer review process was finished last summer with an intention to publish the paper by the end of 2025.
In July 2025, Justice Secretary Angela Constance confirmed “the peer review has now concluded”.
She added that “once that process, and any further action needed has concluded, including consideration of the consultation, we will publish the paper and it remains that we expect to be able to do that no later than the end of this year”.
Earlier this month, Ms Constance said that “the paper has been updated accordingly and has now reached proposed final version”, adding that “any further action is currently under active ministerial consideration”.
Mr Kerr said: “The dual role of the Lord Advocate is not fit for purpose, but John Swinney is still kicking this issue into the long grass.
“The Peter Murrell case simply reminds everyone of what’s been clear for some time – there is an urgent need to stop the Lord Advocate sitting in the SNP cabinet while also being Scotland’s top prosecutor.
“The SNP promised to address this in their 2021 manifesto, but it is only with an election looming that John Swinney says a long-awaited report will finally be published.”
Comments
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.