Military Inquest Disgrace - Scotland to become England

Typically, because of archaic laws and the complete disinterest that this government has in it's armed services and the consequences of being at war, it looks like there is a possibility of Kinloss RAF base becoming part of England. This is because under current law, all military deaths abroad must be examined by an English coroner.

The new proposal would give England jurisdiction over a small part of a Scottish site - such as RAF Kinloss. Under Scottish Law there is no provision for Fatal Accident Inquiries ( The equivalent in Scotland of Inquest) into deaths not occurring in Scotland and it might be difficult to change the law to just cover service personnel.

This would allow inquests on members of the armed forces who have died in Service to take place in Scotland if they arrive back at RAF Kinloss from abroad. Currently inquests have to take place in Wiltshire as all returning flights arrive at RAF Lyneham. This of course means that relatives of Scottish Armed forces personnel who die in service are then faced with long journeys to inquests when they are finally heard.

It might also help the government out of a problem it has long had in that because of it's inertia in dealing with the deaths of members of our armed services in Iraq and Afghanistan we now have a huge backlog of inquests that must be heard. According to reports nearly half of the deaths since the Iraq invasion in 2001 have still to have an inquest completed. Although according to the BBC the Justice ministry reports

The UK Ministry of Justice said hard work by coroners and staff and additional resources provided by the UK government had seen the backlog of inquests handled by the Oxfordshire coroner fall from 86 to two.

A spokesperson said: "To ensure that a backlog of inquests does not develop in Wiltshire, the government has agreed to provide coroner David Masters more additional resources in the form of an additional departmental coroner, a coroner's officer and administrative support.

The reduction from 86 to 2 is a completely misleading figure as inquests now have to be held in Wiltshire as Brize Norton is currently closed and all inquests have to be initiated in Wiltshire after the arrival of the bodies at RAF Lyneham .

Even more misleading is the following

Former Armed Forces minister Adam Ingram MP said he was surprised at the proposal as he had written to the Scottish Government six months ago suggesting a change in the law to allow inquests to be held in Scotland.

He added: "I am a bit stunned by this proposal if this is what they are going to do.

Now I wonder who the the Scottish Government was six months ago, yes it was then Labour, so a different approach from the SNP has been daubed as being cynical because Labour had previously failed to accept proposals when they were in Government.

Cynically I can only imagine the reason for this delay is to keep bad news out of the papers.

Scotsman.com News - Politics - Scottish military base may become part of England