In the first decade of devolution a tale unfolded about how the Scottish liberal elites routinely trample over the basic human rights of marginalised communities when they decide they’re just not worth the hassle.

In 2005, the Labour-led Government had lost an appeal against a prisoner's compensation for being forced to slop out, the practice in which inmates use buckets in their cells as toilets. The prisoner had been awarded £2450 after successfully arguing that the practice breached his rights under the European Convention on Human Rights.

It also emerged that the Government had been warned repeatedly about the disgusting conditions inside some jails – including slopping out – but had chosen to ignore them. They had even been given a substantial EU grant to end slopping out, but had opted to spend this money elsewhere. The resultant flood of similar claims – more than 1000 – eventually cost the government millions of pounds more than the cash they’d received to fix the problem.

Four years later - by which time the SNP had come to power - a tawdry deal was struck between Scotland and the UK to stop inmates receiving compensation for slopping out. Emergency laws were railroaded through Westminster and Holyrood to introduce a one-year time bar on claims. By then, compensation claims had amounted to more than £11m and almost £70m had been set aside for future claims.

Read more

Mark Smith: Is this normal? I’m starting to like John Swinney

Now, you may hold a rather different view about such matters than me: that when offenders lose their liberty they should also lose their human rights. I prefer to be led by Sir Winston Churchill on this matter.

In a speech to the House of Commons in 1910 about the treatment of crime and criminals, the then........

© Herald Scotland