Police inquiry should include Scottish victims

WHEN it became clear Scots officers had been seconded to a disgraced unit of undercover police sent to infiltrate political groups, it was assumed the inquiry set up to investigate their activities would be extended to include Scotland.

After all, the Scottish public surely has just as much interest in finding out the truth about such practices as people in England and Wales. It would appear Theresa May disagrees, however. Tense correspondence between Mrs May, then Home Secretary, and Scottish ministers, now reveals she repeatedly refused to extend the inquiry, despite being accused of doing victims a “disservice”.

We should not forget that the rogue police unit at the centre of the inquiry used tactics most of us would find completely unacceptable, including deceptively having sex with women, spying on the parents of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence and stealing the identities of dead children.

It is only right we discover the extent to which police were involved in such activities in Scotland.

One can only assume time and money may have been at the root of the resistance shown by Mrs May and her successors. But in refusing to include Scotland, the inquiry is refusing to acknowledge victims here deserve to be heard, and we would urge current Home Secretary Amber Rudd to reconsider that decision.