Glasgow law professor says Scottish Government has ‘ outsourced coercion’

Nicola Sturgeon and the Scottish Government have been accused of “outsourcing coercion” by a respected law academic.

Professor James Chalmers, regius professor of law at the University of Glasgow, took to social media to outline his concerns around the guidance issued to students by Universities Scotland.

The representative body for Scottish universities issued the guidance on Thursday, threatening expulsion from higher education settings if students were found to breach the new rules telling them not to socialise in pubs, bars and restaurants over the weekend.

He said the requirement for the First Minister to issue a clarification meant the guidance was not clear. He said care had to be taken with rules that lead to punishment.

Prof Chalmers said: “Everyone involved in this has been working in good faith and under great pressure of time.

“But if you are going to threaten to ‘ punish’ people you have to do that on the basis of clear and carefully thought through rules. You cannot do it this way. Also, the Scottish Government has coercive powers here and can make regulations if it wants to, which has always involved careful drafting. If you circumvent that process by outsourcing coercion to a press release, this sort of stuff happens.

“I am absolutely not suggesting that action was not needed here, nor am I taking a particular view on what that action should have involved. But on the one aspect I do know a bit about – drafting rules with punitive consequences – I am very disappointed with what had happened.”

Ms Sturgeon said yesterday she was trying to communicate as clearly as possible.

She said: “You will always l ook back at a press state - ment or a speech I have given and think maybe I could have expressed that better.”