Scottish First Minister attacks 'deal' over Lockerbie bomber

A war of words has broken out between Westminster and Edinburgh over claims that Tony Blair has struck a deal that could lead to the Lockerbie bomber being sent back to Libya to complete his prison sentence.

Alex Salmond, the Scottish First Minister, has protested to the Prime Minister over a "memorandum of understanding" signed by Mr Blair and the Libyan leader, Colonel Gaddafi, last week. Downing Street hit back later by publishing the document which it insisted disproved Mr Salmond's version of events.

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The first serious clash between the new Scottish Nationalist administration and the UK Government erupted after Mr Salmond made an emergency statement to the Edinburgh parliament. He argued that the new Scottish administration should have been consulted over the 29 May agreement, which covers such issues as exchanging prisoners between the two countries.

The best-known Libyan inmate of a UK jail is Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, who is serving life in Scotland for his role in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, the worst terrorist attack in Britain; 270 passengers of Pan Am flight 103 died when the plane was blown up over the small Borders town.

Mr Salmond complained his administration had not been briefed about the memorandum's contents and had no chance to raise concerns over its " potential implications" for Scotland.

He said he had written to Mr Blair expressing concern that he had signed a deal on matters "clearly devolved to Scotland without any opportunity for this government and indeed this parliament to contribute".

Mr Salmond, who received the backing of other political leaders in Scotland, pointed out that the memorandum's existence had been publicised in Libya.

Downing Street said a review of the Megrahi case was not expected to conclude until late this summer. "Given that, it is totally wrong to suggest we have reached any agreement with the Libyan government in this case." It released the document, which said Britain and Libya would shortly "commence negotiations" on prisoner transfer, extradition and mutual assistance in criminal law, with a deal signed within 12 months. It would be based on a "model agreement" that has already been negotiated.

Whitehall sources said the memorandum was the opening "talks about talks " stage of negotiations and that no detail had ever been discussed. Megrahi was convicted in 2001 after a trial in The Netherlands carried out under Scottish law, but has consistently maintained his innocence over the bombing. His case is being reviewed by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, which will decide later this month whether to refer his conviction back to an appeal court.

Tony Kelly, Megrahi's solicitor, said he was unaware of any potential transfer of his client to Libya.

The Scottish Nationalists broke Labour's stranglehold on Scottish politics with a one-seat victory in last month's elections. Mr Salmond established a minority administration after potential coalition parties, apart from the Greens, pulled out of power-sharing talks.

Sir Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat leader, said: "The Government's ineptitude in handling this matter has given Mr Salmond precisely what he wanted. Westminster and the Labour government have given the impression of disdain for the Scottish authorities."

Dr Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora was killed in the bombing and who speaks for British victims, said Scotland had been insulted by the British-Libyan agreement. He said: "Incredibly it seems that we are being asked to believe that this concerns other Libyan nationals, but not Megrahi. Who could believe that? Not even a spin doctor, surely."

Memorandum of understanding

The participants have reached an understanding that they will shortly commence negotiations on the following matters:

* Mutual assistance in the field of criminal law;

* Mutual legal assistance in the field of civil and commercial law;

* Extradition; and

* Prisoner Transfer.

The two sides will work to conclude the negotiations and prepare these agreements in their final form; in the case of the last-mentioned agreement, working on the basis of the British model agreement on Prisoner transfer presented recently to the Secretary for Justice during his visit to the United Kingdom of 22-24 May ­ to be signed within a period not exceeding 12 months from the date of signing this MOU.

The UK Government will seek to obtain the agreement of all three jurisdictions within the United Kingdom in each case.