Lord Carloway to be questioned by Justice Committee over judicial interests register

Lord Carloway

Politicians on Holyrood’s Justice Committee will question Scotland’s most senior judge amid concerns over how little is known to the Scottish public about the external interests of the judiciary.

Moi Ali, former judicial complaints reviewer and current independent assessor of complaints at the Crown Prosecution Service will also give evidence before the committee.

She told STV News: “I find the Scottish government’s attitude incomprehensible. They seem to be conflating two things — judicial independence, which is really important and we would never want to interfere with the legal decision-making of judges, but they’re confusing that with accountability.”

Like his predecessor, Lord Gill, Lord Carloway opposes the creation of a register.

In 2017, the judge told the Public Petitions Committee that a register would deter lawyers from joining the bench and would help disgruntled litigants exact revenge after losing cases.

In response to being asked why a register would deter prospective judges when it has worked for MSPs, he said: “We have a relatively small pool of lawyers of excellence who are capable of taking on the job of being a member of our senior judiciary.

“We have particular difficulties with recruitment at the moment. If I were to say to senior members of the profession, ‘By the way, if you wish to become a judge you will have to declare all your pecuniary interests and open them to public scrutiny’, I have no doubt whatsoever that that would act as a powerful disincentive for lawyers of experience and skill becoming members of the judiciary.

“I can assure the committee, we need them more than they need us.”

He added: “Until such time as it’s demonstrated that there is corruption within the Scottish judiciary, I’m entirely satisfied that there is no requirement for a register of interests and that it would be positively detrimental to the administration of justice, particularly in relation to the recruitment of judges and especially at the higher level of the judiciary.”

Lord Gill initially declined to appear before MSPs on the Public Petitions Committee but was questioned by them in late 2015 – after being asked for a third time – and following his retirement.

Both First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf agree with him that current safeguards are adequate.