Legal Matters Scotland
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25th April 2024

A free early morning round up of news for legal professionals across Scotland.
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THE LAW
Badenoch claims SNP 'too lazy' to deal with Horizon scandal
Kemi Badenoch has claimed that SNP ministers are “too lazy” to do their own legislative work as she rejected claims by Humza Yousaf that the UK government was using Scottish postmasters as “political pawns”. Yousaf has demanded Rishi Sunak should reverse his government’s “outrageous” decision not to extend legislation to Scotland to exonerate those wrongly convicted as part of the Post Office Horizon scandal. He claimed he was “utterly furious” that Westminster had agreed the bill - which was originally proposed to cover only England and Wales - should be extended to cover Northern Ireland, but still would not apply to Horizon victims in Scotland. Badenoch, however, noted that Scotland had a different legal system to the rest of Britain. She said: “The SNP want independence but are too lazy to do the work. They have powers to get justice for the postmasters. They should stop whining and get on with it.”
Post Office scandal victims treated like 'political football' by SNP ministers, says lawyer
Victims of the Post Office scandal are being treated like a 'political football' by SNP ministers, according to Thomas Ross, a leading KC. Ross condemned Humza Yousaf for claiming Westminster was 'extending' its legislation to all parts of the UK except Scotland. Ross accused ministers of doing nothing on the issue for three months other than 'complaining' about the UK Government's approach. He criticised the Scottish Government for not drafting a Bill in case Scotland had to bring in its own legislation.
Scotland's young people are being failed, says MSP
Writing in the Daily Record, Labour MSP Martin Whitfield says the Scottish Government's Children (Care and Justice) Bill is 'well-intentioned' but 'incompatible with the situation on the ground'. He says the bill promises many laudable things including integrating more 16 and 17-year-olds into the Children's Hearings and aligning Scottish Government practice with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. But claims the fact is that years of SNP cuts to vital services mean that many of the changes proposed in the bill will be unable to be put into practice while Scotland's local authorities and social work departments struggle with deep cuts to services. Whitfield says the bill is lamentably quiet on the need to act to prevent children from entering the criminal justice system in the first place.



 
HOLYROOD
Murrell got two days’ notice of rearrest
Peter Murrell was invited to an interview with police investigating SNP finances two days before he was charged with embezzling party funds. Nicola Sturgeon’s husband arrived at Falkirk police station last week after he made an appointment on the preceding Tuesday with detectives who are part of the Operation Branchform investigation concerning £600,000 of SNP finances. After almost nine hours of questioning, he was charged with embezzling party funds. Police will send a report to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, which will decide whether there is sufficient evidence to bring the case to court. As yet, no report has been sent.


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INDUSTRY
Gender pay gap still a challenge for legal profession
Research reveals that despite women forming more than 52% of qualifying barristers, they earn a median average of 13% less than men do at that early stage in their careers. A report from the Bar Council shows that the top end of the gap came at two years after qualification, when men earned on average 19% more than women. Meanwhile, the researchers found that the pay gap was at its lowest for junior barristers specialising in family law, at 4%. It was highest, at 17%, for junior lawyers practising criminal, personal injury and professional negligence law. The council's research demonstrates that career breaks for maternity leave and childcare are not the sole factors causing pay gaps in the legal profession. For the most part female pupils in their mid-twenties are unlikely to start families just as they qualify as practising barristers.
POLICING
Police Scotland accused of 'weaponising' procedure against officers
Police Scotland has been accused of "weaponising" its procedure against officers who make complaints, according to lawyer Margaret Gribbon. Gribbon warned that it is inevitable that the force will face another case similar to that of Rhona Malone, a former firearms officer who won nearly £1m in an employment tribunal over alleged sexism. Gribbon stated that little has changed since the Malone case and criticised the overall cost to the public purse, which was about £1.5m. She also accused Police Scotland of a "weaponisation of the complaint handling procedure" and an "absolute failure to engage or address issues of misconduct involving discrimination". Gribbon expressed doubts that proposed legislation to improve the police complaints and misconduct process will make a significant difference. She called for independent assessment of complaints and a complete reform of the police complaints handling system.
CASES
Man acquitted of sexual assault due to corroboration rule
A man who allegedly raped a teenage girl in woodland in Fife has been cleared because of legal rules about corroboration. Although a jury returned a guilty verdict on a charge against Duchain, a jury at the High Court in Livingston returned not proven verdicts on another charge involving the same girl and two others involving a 15-year-old. Judge Thomas Hughes freed the 24-year-old under the Moorov doctrine – a legal mechanism which allows for acquittal if corroboration cannot be proven. It meant Mr Duchain, of Alcester, Warwickshire, was acquitted on all four counts. Lord Hughes told jurors that because they were prepared to convict Mr Duchain on one charge, but not the other three, he would have to change that verdict to not proven.
TAX
Higher earners leaving Scotland to reduce tax burden, research finds
Higher earners are leaving Scotland to reduce their tax burden, HMRC research suggests. Official data found that about 8,000 more people were moving to Scotland than leaving for elsewhere in the UK in 2022. However, the report also found that about 1,030 higher-rate taxpayers — equivalent to £61m in tax receipts — moved south of the Border. “This implies that more individuals moved from Scotland to [the rest of the] UK and/or less individuals moved to Scotland from UK following the policy change,” the report said. A new Scottish tax band of 45% on earnings between £75,000 and £125,140, came into force on April 1. Recent research by Scottish Financial Enterprise, the trade body, found that more than 80% of financial services firms believe the tax divergence is routinely affecting their ability to attract and retain people in Scotland. Overall, the HMRC report found that after 2017, when Scottish tax rates started to diverge from those south of the Border, net migration to Scotland increased and the amount of taxable income moving to Scotland increased from about 2019 onwards.
ECONOMY
Scottish business collapses up 3%
Corporate insolvencies in Scotland have reached their highest level in over a decade, with 1,168 businesses going bust in 2023/24, a 3% increase from the previous year and 23% up on pre-pandemic levels recorded in 2019/20. Personal insolvencies in Scotland also rose by 1% in the same period. The rise in corporate insolvencies is partly driven by an increase in compulsory liquidations, which have grown by almost a third. The economic climate, volatility in consumer confidence, and high costs of rent, energy, and raw materials have contributed to the difficult year for businesses in Scotland. Richard Bathgate, chair of insolvency and restructuring trade body R3 in Scotland and a restructuring partner at Johnston Carmichael, said: "It's clear that many directors are still having to make tough decisions about their long-term future, and it may be some time before we see insolvency numbers fully stabilise.”
 


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