Inquiry into Lockerbie bomber release

MPs are to study the handling of the case of the Lockerbie bomber as part of a wider probe into relations between Westminster and Holyrood, it was announced.

The inquiry by the Commons Scottish Affairs select committee will also study how a prisoner transfer agreement was negotiated between Libya and the UK.

The committee, chaired by Mohammad Sarwar, Labour MP for Glasgow Central, announced the move.

The release of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, who has terminal cancer, on compassionate grounds led to a storm of protest from American relatives of Lockerbie victims.

Megrahi, who was serving life for the jumbo jet bombing which claimed 270 lives, returned home to Libya in August.

The decision to free him on compassionate grounds was taken by Kenny MacAskill, Justice Secretary in the minority SNP administration in Edinburgh.

But Mr MacAskill turned down a separate application for Megrahi to be sent home under a prisoner transfer agreement struck between the UK and Libya.

Throughout the controversy, Westminster insisted that decisions on Megrahi were the sole responsibility of the Scottish Government.

And the Scottish Government said the decisions were made by Mr MacAskill alone, acting in a quasi-judicial capacity.

Long before the controversy over Megrahi's release the prisoner transfer agreement prompted a row between Edinburgh and London, when First Minister Alex Salmond complained his administration was not consulted over the "deal in the desert" that led to the agreement.

The Scottish Affairs committee said its inquiry would study the arrangements in place for communication between the UK Government and the Scottish Executive when London drew up the international policy affecting Scottish interests "with specific reference to the negotiation of the prisoner transfer agreement between Libya and the UK and the case of Mr Abdelbaset Al Megrahi".

It would study whether there were effective two-way channels of communication, and the arrangements for assessing the impact of UK foreign policy on Scottish interests and vice versa.

Peter Wishart, a member of the committee and SNP MP for Perth and North Perthshire, said: "The Foreign Secretary, the Westminster Justice Secretary, and representatives of the Scottish Government will be asked to give evidence and I am looking forward to exploring with ministers the background and basis of the PTA.

"We will quite rightly not consider the decisions made by the Scottish Justice Secretary."

Another member of the committee, Alistair Carmichael, Liberal Democrat MP for Orkney and Shetland, said: "I am pleased that the committee has agreed to look into the handling and consequences of the release of Al Megrahi.

"This is not about blame but is about seeing how this situation arose and what lessons can be learned."