LibDem peer says separate dual role of Lord Advocate

A SCOTTISH peer has suggested that the country’s legal system may need a rethink in the wake of questions about the impartiality of the role of the Lord Advocate.

Liberal Democrat grandee Sir Ming Campbell said Scotland should consider giving greater authority to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), and appointing a role similar to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in England and Wales to lead it.

It comes after concerns were raised over the dual role held by the current Lord Advocate James

Wolffe, who is both a Scottish Government minister and head of the COPFS.

Although questions have been raised in the past under previous Lord Advocates, the issue was drawn into sharp focus over the involvement of Mr Wolffe in the handling of the Scottish Government’s case against former First Minister Alex Salmond.

Sir Ming suggested that Scotland should look at adopting a DPP-style role, which was previously held by Labour leader Keir Starmer, as a means of creating additional separation between the Government and the prosecution service.

He told The Herald on Sunday: “We have always prided ourselves on the Scottish legal system, but perhaps it is time to borrow something from south of the Border.

“The Attorney General in England is a member of the Government and has dual responsibilities as a result, but in addition to that there is the office of the DPP which means there is further distancing between the Advocate General and prosecuting decisions, although the Advocate General continues to have ultimate responsibility.

“We would do well to look at that, and see whether or not similar arrangements would be applicable in Scotland.” Asked about why he thought the impartiality of the role had come under such scrutiny now, the Liberal Democrat grandee said: “I was called to the bar in 1968, I have known every Lord Advocate since 1968 and I am more than confident that all of them have understood the dual responsibility that the office for the Lord Advocate creates, and have been at pains to ensure that the impartiality was beyond challenge.”

Sir Ming said it was imperative that both outwardly, as well as internally within Government and the prosecution service, that impartiality was made clear by the Lord Advocate, both now and in the future.

His comments come after a survey by Scottish Legal News, published on Friday, suggested that the majority of Scotland’s legal profession thought there should be a separation of the roles held by the Lord Advocate entirely.