Salmond attacks Blair's 'deal in the desert'

Alex Salmond told a committee of MPs yesterday that former Prime Minister Tony Blair's "deal in the desert" with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was a "mistake".

Terminally ill Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi eventually had a prisoner-transfer application rejected by the Scottish Government, but was released to his home country on compassionate grounds five months ago. Mr Salmond said: "It was a mistake because it raised an expectation by the Libyan government that Mr Megrahi would be included in such a prisoner transfer.

"It was a mistake because it cut across the due process of Scots law, because one of the provisions of prisoner transfer is that legal proceedings would have to come to an end.

"It was a mistake because it was cut across what we believe to be prior agreements with the United States government and the relatives."

Mr Salmond was appearing before the Commons Scottish Affairs committee, which is investigating communication between governments in Edinburgh and London.

Scottish Ministers, including Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill, have complained of a lack of information coming from the UK Government.

Also giving evidence to the committee was Sir John Elvidge, the Scottish Government's permanent secretary and most senior civil servant.

He said communication with Whitehall in the run-up to the release of Megrahi was sufficient.

"I'm in no doubt that those parts of the UK Government that needed to be aware of the timescale for the decision and the potential implication of the decision, irrespective of which way the decision went, were fully informed and fully prepared," he said.

"We did everything we could to ensure that the UK Government had every opportunity to prepare for the moment of decision."

Mr MacAskill turned down the prisoner-transfer application but granted Megrahi early release on health grounds.

Megrahi was serving a life sentence after being convicted of murdering 270 people when a US passenger plane was blown up over Lockerbie in 1988.

He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in September 2008 and medical evidence last summer suggested he had about three months to live.

Megrahi, the only man to be convicted for the bombing, was received by crowds waving Scottish flags on his return to Tripoli.

Mr MacAskill insisted the decision to release the bomber on compassionate grounds was "the right decision for the right reasons".He was well served by the staff who worked with him and supported him.