MILIBAND’S MEGRAHI ANNOUNCEMENT UNDERMINES SCOTTISH LABOUR LEADER.

MILIBAND’S MEGRAHI ANNOUNCEMENT UNDERMINES SCOTTISH LABOUR LEADER.

Today’s announcement from David Miliband in the House of Commons where he confirmed that “as a matter of policy” the UK Labour government was “not seeking Megrahi’s death in Scottish custody”, SNP MSP Michael Matheson said it totally undermined the position of Iain Gray and Richard Baker who had attempted to party politicise the issue.

The announcement the Foreign Secretary reflects the release of earlier papers relating to the UK negotiation of a Prisoner Transfer Agreement with Libya and papers from the Scottish Government on the consideration of applications both for PTA and for Compassionate release have left the UK Government with key questions to answer.

One of those was a note of a meeting between the Scottish and Libyan Government’s which included a claim by the Libyan Government that Foreign Office minister Bill Rammell told Libya that neither Gordon Brown nor David Miliband wanted Megrahi to “pass away” in jail.

This stance was confirmed by David Miliband the next day on Radio 4.

Commenting on today’s statement Mr Matheson said:

“I welcome today’s announcement by the Foreign Secretary and the mature and honest manner in which he has made it.

“His confirmation that the UK Labour government did not support the death of al Megrahi in Scottish custody only highlights the naked opportunism of Iain Gray and Richard Baker in the Scottish Parliament where they attempted to make this a party political issue.

“It will be interesting to see if they will resort to the hysterical language and hyperbole against Mr Miliband as they used in relation to Kenny MacAskill’s statement.”