Scottish Conservative MP’s bill seeks to end Lord Advocate’s dual role

The Scottish Parliament and Parliament House in Edinburgh.

by Bill Heaney

A Scottish Conservative MP will today (Wednesday) present a bill at Westminster to end the “damaging conflict of interest” caused by the Lord Advocate’s dual role.  

John Cooper’s Ten-Minute Rule Bill will address the anomaly of the Lord Advocate being both Scotland’s independent lead prosecutor and a member of the SNP cabinet. 

The problems created by the twin roles were thrown into sharp focus when it emerged recently that the current incumbent, Dorothy Bain, informed John Swinney about key details of the case against former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell almost a year before they became public knowledge. 

Cooper says his bill – which will seek to amend the Scotland Act 1998 – is necessary because the SNP government at Holyrood had broken their 2021 pledge split up the Lord Advocate’s dual role. 

Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay backs his colleague’s bill, having said last month that Swinney being given a politically-sensitive briefing about the case against Nicola Sturgeon’s husband “smacks of corruption”. 

Scottish Conservative MP for Dumfries and Galloway John Cooper said: “The scandal of John Swinney getting a secret tip-off about the Peter Murrell case highlights the damaging conflict of interest caused by the Lord Advocate’s twin roles. 

“It’s wrong that the same person is both Scotland’s top prosecutor and a member of the Scottish Government. 

“The two roles are clearly incompatible and immensely harmful to the reputation of Scots Law. 

“The SNP Government pledged to address this anomaly in their 2021 manifesto – but they have done nothing since. 

“They could have sought a Section 30 order to change the law themselves, but their broken promise has led me to put forward this bill to try to change things at the Westminster end.” 

Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay, right, said: “Since being appointed by Nicola Sturgeon five years ago, the Lord Advocate has regularly done the SNP’s bidding. 

“This includes her pushing their dangerous plan to scrap juries which John Swinney was eventually forced to abandon. 

“Recent revelations about the Lord Advocate privately passing Swinney politically advantageous information about Sturgeon’s husband have brought the dual role scandal into even sharper focus. 

“I commend John Cooper for seizing the opportunity to end the Lord Advocate’s dual role and hopefully shame the SNP into doing what’s right for Scotland.”