Openness is vital for democracy

Decision to seal police reports on Dunblane murderer Thomas Hamilton for 100 years was a mistake

The Dunblane massacre – the murders of 16 primary school pupils and their teacher in 1996 – was one of the most appalling and tragic events in Scotland’s history. It remains almost unspeakably sad.

So it was understandable that authorities decided to seal police reports about the killer Thomas Hamilton – including information relating to allegations he abused children at a summer camp he ran in 1991 – for 100 years in order to protect any potential victims.

It was understandable but wrong, as the development of conspiracy theories about Hamilton’s supposed links with members of the Scottish establishment and the 2005 decision to release some of the documents ultimately showed.

Newly published minutes of Scottish Cabinet meetings in 2003 detail concern over the “strong public perception of a cover-up” because the 100-year closure “seemed incomprehensibly lengthy to the public”. Publishing redacted versions of the reports would be “difficult” and “administratively costly”, the minutes add, and doing so might not allay the public’s fears. “What mattered was to close the story down,” the notes say.

Two years later, Lord Advocate Colin Boyd finally decided it was worth the effort and the expense.

Governments and agents of the state, like the police, will always need to keep some secrets – to confound the actions of hostile nations, to protect the privacy of citizens or for other similarly good reasons.

However, in a democracy where the rule of law is upheld, openness is a vital requirement, not simply an afterthought or something to be done if civil servants can find the time.

The people need to know what its government is doing in order to judge it at the ballot box. Justice must be seen to be done to enable everyone to know that the country is indeed just, and that the law applies equally to all.

The suggestion of special treatment for members of any kind of “elite” risks undermining faith in democracy, which is, after all, nothing more than an idea. Ideas can be powerful things but they are also fragile and subject to change – as the subversion of liberal democracy in countries like Russia demonstrates.

Politicians of all parties must never take our strength of faith in democracy for granted and secrecy should always be a last resort, reserved for only those situations where there is no other option.