I’m a Scottish minister. I don’t do things that are legal.
During the past two weeks two unfortunate utterances from the Scottish Government have been noted by the Scots Law News team.
On 21st May Richard Lochhead, the fishing secretary, was on Newsnight Scotland being questioned on the Scottish government's fishing policy. When questioned by Gordon Brewer on the legality of one aspect of the policy Mr Lochhead surprised Brewer by stating,
"I'm a Scottish minister. I don't do things that are legal."
This slip was subsequently corrected as was the press release issued to journalists in the name of Jim Mather, Enterprise Minister, on 5th June. In response to a question from Scottish Conservative leader Annabel Goldie on the number of drug finds in Scottish prisons over the past five years the response stated simply,
Entering the spirit of things a spokesman for the Conservatives replied,
"D'oh."