MEMO OF MISUNDERSTANDING

Whilst the ink is still wet on the Alex Salmond’s victory papers, the first constitutional spat with his English counter part looms on the horizon. With Blair desperate to murky the waters of his failed foreign policy (a certain matter of a war with Iraqi) his signing of a Memo of Understanding concerning Libyan prisoners in Britain has angered law abiding Scots men and women, particularly those who live in Lockerbie. Who can forget those dreadful scenes of the carnage left by the crashed Boeing, but who didn’t feel that at least a semblance of justice had been achieved when a Libyan intelligence official (Megrahi) was finally put on trial, convicted and to the satisfaction of natural justice, incarcerated in a Scottish jail. Blair’s actions however, threaten to make this whole scenario a mockery. Westminster has been quick to deny that Megrahi will be included in any prisoner transfer. Not so, says Kenny MacAskill, Justice Secretary in the new Scottish government. The memo, he claims, mentions no restrictions and refers clearly to the transfer of Libyan prisoners. As Scotland has only one Libyan prisoner in its jails, Megrahi qualifies regardless of any glossing over by London.

The whole issue of Gaddifi and his rehabilitation into the international elite is a difficult one. As a leader who presided over international terrorism and with at least two major atrocities in Britain alone, it’s hard to watch Blair shake his hand. However, we need look no further than Ireland to see the benefits of reconciliation. For Libya however, there is an air of duplicity and also a sense that it is a bit to soon to be courting new friends when the memories of the atrocities are still very vivid. Gaddifi cannot be trusted, such is the degree of his irrationality; at least with Adams, McGuinness and Co, being on our doorstep means we can keep an eye on them.

On moral grounds to release Megrahi would be a travesty. As a Libyan military intelligence official, his return to his native land will not be greeted with the ball and chain, but with grandeur and a penthouse. On constitutional grounds, this could be the first real clash between a nationalist party who considers it’s government independent in all but name, and a London government desperate to hold on to the Union.