Justice secretary must provide clarity on Police Scotland
The Scottish Conservatives have lambasted justice secretary Michael Matheson for repeatedly failing to take responsibility for his portfolio.
As he prepares to make a ministerial statement on policing, the party has called for Mr Matheson to address the continuing chaos and mismanagement that engulfs the single police force, and not duck the hard questions.
The Scottish Conservatives have uncovered six incidents when Mr Matheson either passed the responsibility for his portfolio onto other ministers, ignored questions, refused to take responsibility for his portfolio or denied any knowledge of information.
The six incidents include letting Humza Yousaf defend the Railway Policing (Scotland) Bill despite having introduced the bill, ignoring a parliamentary question about falling fire safety and inspector numbers, and refusing to take responsibility for police response times.
He also refused to answer how police officers will get railway training after the BTP merger, didn’t answer questions about metal theft, and denied any knowledge of the Chief Constable’s budget plans.
Commenting ahead of the statement, Liam Kerr, Scottish Conservative shadow justice secretary said:
“The justice secretary can’t duck the questions forever; he must face the Scottish Parliament and explain exactly how he is going to fix the chaos that has engulfed Police Scotland.
“With daily reports of mismanagement, misconduct and interference Michael Matheson must finally take responsibility and admit he doesn’t know what’s going on or how to fix it.
“It is absolutely vital that the brave men and women working in the police have confidence in their leadership.
“We hope that the new chair of the Scottish Police Authority will bring some welcome clarity to the situation but, by being so evasive, the Mr Matheson has simply made matters worse.
“The crisis in the Police Scotland is the responsibility of the justice secretary and no amount of wriggling will get him off the hook.”