Letter #2 delivered to Angus Robertson informing him he is in breach of Article 1.7 of the Scottish Ministerial Code

"The overarching duty on Ministers is to comply with the law, including international law and treaty obligations"

Readers will recall that at the April 2nd Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee (CPPPC) meeting where PE2135 was first considered, the committee agreed to ask the Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, Angus Robertson, for a direct response to the petition, since the Scottish Administration’s initial response on January 31 was penned by a civil servant within the Directorate for Constitution (DfC), not by Mr. Robertson:

---

---

Mr. Robertson duly responded on May 1. But as you can see, he merely regurgitated the DfC civil servant verbiage, since he appears to lack either the courage and/or knowledge to challenge his colonial masters:

---

---

As we’ve stated many times, the Scotland Act 1998 says that a majority of MSPs can implement ICCPR in its entirety, which is recommended by both the Scottish Human Rights Commission and the United Nations Human Rights Committee. In the implementing legislation parliament can add the words “Subject to Referendum”, which would trigger the Referendums (Scotland) Act 2020, and a majority of MSPs can then vote to hold a national referendum on whether or not to implement ICCPR.

Why don’t you ask your MSP to prove to you that this is NOT the case? They won’t be able to.

Henry Black Ferguson, who authored PE2135, has written a second letter to Mr. Robertson, where he informs him, among other things, that in refusing to support putting ICCPR, an international treaty, into Scots law, Robertson is in breach of Article 1.7 of the Scottish Ministerial Code:

Here is Henry’s letter to Angus Robertson:

---

Mr Angus Roberston MSP
Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs & Culture
The Scottish Parliament
Edinburgh EH99 1SP

Scotland

To: Angus.Robertson.msp@parliament.scot

10^th May 2025

Re: International Covenant on Civil & Political Rights (ICCPR): PE2135

Dear Mr Robertson,

I’m following up on my 27th January letter to you and to which I’ve so far received only a partial reply.

On 12th February I received a full response to the question about my right to vote in Holyrood elections, for which I thank you, but so far there has been no reply to the two other suggestions about PE2135 at the end of my 27th January letter. The case-handling references I received at the time are as follows:

202500449960 (28th January) and 202500451442 (5th February).

I would still appreciate receiving a written response on the above two cases.

PE2135

As you know, PE2135 is now being considered by the CPPPC and formal submissions have been filed by SPICe, the Directorate for Constitution on your behalf and myself on behalf of Respect Scottish Sovereignty (RSS). The first committee meeting was held on 2^nd April, the draft Official Report has been published and on 29^th April we filed a formal submission taking issue with the completeness and accuracy of information presented to the committee:

· The reader was led to believe that the Scottish Human Rights Commission (SHRC) concurred with not considering ICCPR during the Human Rights leadership process when in fact SHRC recommends full ICCPR implementation as described in PE2135.

· There was no reference to the SHRC red flag alert described in my January 27th letter;

· Three independent, authoritative references recommending or supporting full ICCPR implementation were ignored;

· The SPICe briefing information didn’t summarise the powers of Parliament to give legal effect to the ICCPR in Scottish legislation as described in The Scotland Act 1998.

CPPPC

The draft Official Report of the 2nd April CPPPC meeting reads “Perhaps Mr Robertson could be asked to give detailed comment on all the arguments that the petitioner set out in response to the initial Government position.” and, in response to that request, you filed a written submission PE 2135/C on 1st May. In your submission, rather than give detailed comment on all my arguments as requested by the CPPPC, you merely repeat the Directorate for Constitution’s argument in its submission PE215/A of 31 January that “…it is important to note that this only applies to devolved matters within the competence of the Scottish Parliament. When incorporating international treaties into domestic law, the Scottish Parliament can only give effect to provisions within its powers and responsibilities.”

This statement, which is in direct contradiction to the Scotland Act 1998 and which is repeated without any supporting legislative evidence whatsoever, bears further examination. Because you haven’t commented on all the arguments set out in my submission PE2135/B, I suggest that: (i) you should appear personally at the CPPPC meeting which next considers PE2135, and (ii) the Committee should commission SPICe to urgently prepare a Fact Sheet to inform MSPs on Parliament’s power to fully implement PE2135. The SPICe Fact Sheet should specifically consider the relevance of the above Government argument.

As Petitioner and in the circumstances described above, we believe it’s important that the Cabinet Secretary for the Constitution inform the CPPPC on the following at its next meeting:

* * *

1. When First Minister Humza Yousaf said: “The Constitutional Convention may also want to consider further provisions on the right to public participation in public affairs as expressed in Article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR),” ^[1] was he talking “off the cuff” or was it the considered view of the cabinet?

2. We believe that Sections 29 & 30 of the Scotland Act 1998, together with Schedule 5, confirm that full ICCPR implementation is not reserved and that it’s within the Scottish Parliament’s competence. Section 30 clearly states: “Schedule 5 (which defines reserved matters) shall have effect”.

Can the Cabinet Secretary explain why this is not already the case?

3. How does the Cabinet Secretary intend to correct the following breaches of item 1.7 of the Ministerial Code (“overarching duty on Ministers to comply with the law, including international law and treaty obligations”)?

- Refusal to accept the recommendations of: (i) the Scottish Human Rights Commission (Parallel report of 4 February 2024 to the UN Human Rights Committee), and (ii) the UN Human Rights Committee (8^th Periodic report 3 May 2024), and

- Refusal to support PE2135 and the implementation of the ICCPR in Scottish legislation?

4. According to the Directorate for Constitution, while the observation and implementation of international obligations, such as the ICCPR, “are not specifically reserved under the Scotland Act, … it is important to note that this only applies to devolved matters within the competence of the Scottish Parliament”.

What is the position of the Cabinet Secretary for the Constitution - as opposed to that of the Directorate for Constitution - if under Ministerial Code item 1.7 “… the overarching duty on Ministers (is) to comply with the law, including international law and treaty obligations, and to uphold the administration of justice and to protect the integrity of public life”?

* * *

Thank you for taking account of the above when you respond to the CPPPC at its next meeting.

(s) Henry B. Ferguson

CC:

First Minister

Deputy First Minister

Lorna Slater MSP

Patrick Harvie MSP

Ash Regan MSP

Keith Brown MSP

Jackson Carlaw MSP (CPPPC member - Jackson.Carlaw.msp@parliament.scot)

David Torrance MSP (CPPPC member - David.Torrance.msp@parliament.scot)

Fergus Ewing MSP (CPPPC member - Fergus.Ewing.msp@parliament.scot)

Foysol Choudhury MSP (CPPPC member - Foysol.Choudhury.msp@parliament.scot)

Maurice Golden MSP (CPPPC member - Maurice.Golden.msp@parliament.scot)

CPPPC Admin Team

Blair McDougall MP

Angela Constance MSP

Karen Adam MSP

SNAP 2 Secretariat

Scottish Human Rights Commission

Prof. Alan Miller

---

^[1] Building a New Scotland No. 4, June 2023: “Creating a modern constitution for an independent Scotland” (pg. 39).

At the time of writing, PE2135 has 6,746 signatures. Please share it and tell your family and friends about it.

You can also: Write to your MSP, to members of the CPPPC (their email addresses are also in the letter above),

and to Angus Robertson (Angus.Robertson.msp@parliament.scot), demanding that they give you your full international human rights by incorporating ICCPR into Scots law.

There isn’t much happening at the moment to give the Scottish People hope for a better future - for themselves, their children and grandchildren. If we’re to win our freedom from the failing UK, we must demand it from our elected representatives. Implementing ICCPR would be a significant step in the right direction.