Parliament Workbench
Data: Official Report to 12 Nov 2026

Official Report · Committee

Current Petitions

Right of Appeal (PE1214)

Tuesday 10 February 2009 Public Petitions Committee Petitions 5 contributions · 3 speakers

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The record

5 contributions
John Farquhar Munro LD The Deputy Convener · Ross, Skye and Inverness West
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PE1214, from Mr Emiko Okoturo, calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to take all necessary action to remove the requirement that an appellant must require two Scottish counsel to sign the appellant's petition before it can be presented to the appeals committee of the House of Lords, as that is contrary to article 6 of the European convention on human rights. Do members have suggestions on how to deal with the petition?

Bill Butler Lab Glasgow Anniesland
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It is not in our power to achieve what the petitioner wants. As far as I am aware, the procedures of the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords are outwith the Scottish Government's devolved competence. That is that.My information is that the Scottish Government will not make any representations on the issue, so I think that we have no choice but to close the petition. If we did anything else, we would be pretending to have a locus where we do not. That is the top and bottom of it.

Nigel Don SNP North East Scotland
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I agree with Bill Butler. However, there is a minor detail that the petitioner would like us at least to air. He reminds us that, within the court system, he is able to represent himself at first instance, on appeal in Scotland and before the House of Lords. There is the small matter of security for costs but, in principle, he could do all of that at no cost. I think that he is making the point that, if he were a person of reasonable means, he would have to pay two Scottish counsel to certify that a case should be taken to the House of Lords. That is the requirement that he believes to be inconsistent with the European convention on human rights—essentially, he is asserting that certification should be provided free, because he cannot do it himself.It is entirely beyond us to comment on whether it is right for the House of Lords to require that petitions be signed by two Scottish counsel as a precursor to their being presented; that seems reasonable to me, but my opinion is irrelevant. The petitioner's point is that, if someone is very rich, securing the signatures of two counsel is not a problem. If they are very poor, the Scottish Legal Aid Board should pay, but if they are a person of reasonable means, this is the one part of the process for which they must pay. The petitioner probably has a point when he suggests that that is not entirely right. However, the issue will arise so rarely that I do not think that we should push it, to be perfectly honest.

Bill Butler Lab Glasgow Anniesland
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I do not know whether the procedure is ECHR compliant or whether it goes against article 6 of the convention. However—with respect to the petitioner—that is neither here nor there for this committee, which must work within the devolved settlement. The Scottish Government has told us that it does not intend to make representations in respect of this aspect of the devolved settlement, so we have no locus. We must be honest with the petitioner and say that we need to close the petition.

John Farquhar Munro LD The Deputy Convener · Ross, Skye and Inverness West
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Is that agreed?Members indicated agreement.

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