Vote Of No Confidence

Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill is under pressure from Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats to resign.

Labour MSPs, who've tabled the no confidence motion, say the call follows controversy surrounding armed police on routine duties and stop and searches.

The party also claim that crime figures have been manipulated and performance statistics linked to target setting.

Scottish Labour's Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Justice, Graeme Pearson MSP said:

"Kenny MacAskill has stumbled from crisis to crisis as Justice Secretary and is becoming a serious embarrassment for this Government.

"There has been fundamental policy decisions taken on arming of police on routine duties, stop and searches and target setting without proper debate and consultation. MacAskill has failed to adequately answer the serious questions asked of him, and this is simply unacceptable.

"Police Scotland must allow policing by consent to secure public confidence and in order to ensure this happens we must have a strong Justice Secretary that is willing to hold them to account, currently we don’t.

"Alex Salmond is unwilling to make any moves to replace him and rather than waiting for the inevitable reshuffle from Nicola Sturgeon, the Cabinet Secretary should do the honourable thing and resign."

The party has the backing of the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats; however the SNP have a majority at Holyrood.

A spokesperson for First Minister Alex Salmond said: 

"This is a pathetic stunt from Labour who seem to be going out of their way to criticise the single police force which they fully supported the creation of. 

"The reality is that this Justice Secretary has presided over a near 40-year low in recorded crime across Scotland, as well as police recruitment which has taken the number of officers in Scotland to record high levels, while force strength south of the border has plummeted by more than 14,000 over the same period. 

"These are the benchmarks which the public care about, which the Justice Secretary has consistently delivered on, and on which this administration will be judged."