Lord Advocate post excluded from cabinet
23 May 07
Move seen as distancing law officers from political process
The Lord Advocate Elish Angiolini is understood to be about to retain her position, but will not sit in the cabinet of the new SNP government.
Ms Angiolini will be retained as senior legal adviser for the new administration. The decision is seen as a de-politicisation of the post. Legally the Lord Advocate is a member of the Scottish government, as well as the country's top prosecutor, but First Minister Alex Salmond said yesterday that he wants law officers who are independent of politics.
Ms Angiolini, whose prior career was in the procurator fiscal service, was a politically neutral appointment by Jack McConnell as First Minister. However Solicitor General John Beckett, a Labour Party member, is to leave his post. It is thought that the role of Solicitor General is likely to change, with the appointee acting as the main prosecutor in major trials.
In an interview published in the Juornal in February (http://www.journalonline.co.uk/article/1003853.aspx), Ms Angiolini defended her position as a non-voting member of the cabinet, saying that if she were not there, she would have to depend on another minister with possibly competing priorities to defend her department's interests.
She said at the time: "I do have an opportunity however – I think this is important – as the head of the systems of prosecution and deaths investigation in Scotland, to ensure that the interests of my own department are taken into account in any discussions about for instance the resourcing or the structures of the Scottish Executive.”
In future she will probably have to rely on Kenny MacAskill, the Cabinet Secretary for Justice, to perform that role.
Yesterday also saw the formal swearing in before the Court of Session of the First Minister's five cabinet secretaries - Nicola Sturgeon, John Swinney, Fiona Hyslop, Richard Lochhead and Kenny MacAskill.
Mr MacAskill has said that his main priority will be to tackle the root causes of crime and make sure that those who offend are punished. In a recognition that alcohol and drugs are often key factors behind the causes of crime, he has already brought alcohol licensing under his remit.
Mr MacAskill is also keen to stop private companies running prisons and to stop people being sent to jail for fine defaulting and other minor offences.