Report to the People
3rd December 2007
Justice Done
In
a week dominated by politicians indulging their worst excesses, conforming to
stereotype and demanding that everyone bar them resigns, some consensual
politics were found in an unlikely quarter.
Justice
Minister, Kenny MacAskill, is not known as a politician who shrinks from the odd
bit of high volume hectoring or political knockabout.
But, as I know from our time on the SPCB together, he is more than
capable of listening to the arguments and making the right decision.
And
the arguments which I, together with MSPs from across the parties and
campaigners, had been putting to him since last month’s scandalous House of
Lords ruling on asbestos-related pleural plaques, were overwhelming.
I
was therefore pleased, if not wholly surprised, when the Minister agreed to
introduce a government Bill to reverse the Law Lords’ decision and allow
people who are diagnosed with pleural plaques after being negligently exposed to
asbestos to sue for damages.
In
doing so, he has continued a proud Scottish Parliament tradition of changing the
law to right the injustices which insurance firms and their lawyers inflict on
asbestos victims.
We
will, of course, need to see the detail and, as time is of the essence, I still
feel there is a case for using emergency procedures to fast-track the Bill
through the parliament. But, if we
can be sure that the Bill would apply retrospectively and that no-one will lose
out, we can be confident that we’ve scored another victory.
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