‘We won’t appoint non-police to highest ranks of force’
KENNY MacAskill ruled out shop managers getting direct entry into the highest ranks of Scotland’s police force when he spoke at the SNP conference.
In his speech in Perth, the justice secretary rejected the UK Government’s plans to appoint people to senior positions in Police Scotland without them ever having been so much as a police constable.
The move south of the Border has caused consternation among officers, who believe that police commanders should have operational experience.
Mr MacAskill said: “Down in England they are proposing direct entry to the Police more signs that Yes Scotland was prepared to indulge in some negativity of their own.
At a conference that saw Nicola Sturgeon predict on Friday that a “No” vote would see Westminster “turn the screw” and threaten Scotland’s public services and universal benefits, Yes Scotland chief executive Blair Jenkins ramped up the attack.
“If you are sick and fed up of the corrosive and cynical world of Westminster, then next year we can be rid of all that,” Mr Jenkins said as he took to the stage, the first of nine speakers.
Turning his guns on Labour politicians who took the UK into war in Iraq, and the House of Commons expenses scandal, Mr Jenkins said: “Vote Yes and we can say ‘Enough!’ to the remote House of Commons and Service. Senior officers will be recruited never having served as a constable. Whether inspector, superintendent or even chief constable. In Scotland I want the assurance they’ve had ten years’ police experience. Not ten years as a supermarket manager or financial consultant. Experience learned policing our communities. Experience that money can’t buy. We will not invoke direct entry.”
Mr MacAskill also warned the legal profession that he will go ahead with his controversial plan to scrap corroboration. He defended his policy, arguing it would increase convictions for domestic abuse as well as rape. the ridiculous House of Lords. Enough of the war-mongers and the job-cutters; enough of the asset-strippers and mortgageflippers; enough of the welfarebashers and the bedroom-taxers.
“Let’s be done with them. Let’s make our own decisions and live by our own values. It’s time to speak up for Scotland. It’s time to stand up for Scotland. It’s time to vote Yes.”
Later Angus Robertson, the SNP’s Westminster leader, gave activists a demonstration of Yesmo, a mobile phone app the SNP believes will play a key role in identifying undecided voters they can convince to vote Yes.
Mr Robertson said the Yesmo would give Yes campaigners the edge over rivals by enabling them to canvass voters in pubs, cafes and their homes and relay
He proposes to abolish the historic rule of Scots Law, which requires at least two different and independent sources of evidence to bring a case. The Scottish Government believes their voting intentions headquarters.
Speaking before Mr Salmond, Ms Sturgeon described how she felt “incredibly lucky” to be deputy SNP leader at a momentous time in the party’s history.
Finance secretary John Swinney spoke of his frustration at having budget cuts imposed on him by George Osborne. He also reflected on life as an older father and how he wanted his three-year-old son to have the opportunities that would be brought by independence.
And Ivan McKee, a businessman working for Business for Scotland, told delegates how he had been persuaded that independence would be good for entrepreneurs.
to party this makes it particularly difficult to prosecute rape cases, which are rarely witnessed.
Figures within the legal establishment have taken a different view, arguing that getting rid of corroboration would actually make it more difficult to secure rape convictions.
The Faculty of Advocates has aruged that if there is no legal requirement for corroboration, there is a risk police will not investigate with a view to finding corroborative evidence if it exists.
The police have rejected this notion.