Ian Hamilton QC, who was presented with the Lifetime Achievement award by Justice Minster Kenny MacAskill at the Law Awards of Scotland, has called for the appointment of the Lord Advocate to be passed to the Judicial Appointments Board, as the independence of the Lord Advocate is compromised by the current close connection to the state.

"The Lord Advocate today is far from independent. She was a Labour appointment. Alex Salmond kept her on. She loves her job. She is, in a constitutional sense, in bed with the ministry. Although she will deny it she will do the government’s bidding or lose the job she loves and which brings her great prestige. Nothing could be more dangerous for us all," he says.

"I could give you examples of the overweening power of the state but I am on dangerous territory. What is that danger? It is this. The power of prosecution in Scotland, so far from being independent, is in the hands of the state. Those like me, who are always against the government, are in constant danger. The power of prosecution is too much power to entrust to any one person such as Alex Salmond or Kenny MacAskill.

"The position can easily be resolved. The Lord Advocate has more power to misuse than any judge. The way to defend us against the overweening power of the Lord Advocate is to have the appointment of the Lord Advocate and the Solicitor General taken out of Alex Salmond’s hands. It should be given to the Judicial Appointments Board. Even this may not be entirely safe but it is the best machinery that can be devised. By and large it has worked with the appointment of judges."

Hamilton also says that there are already examples of the independence of the Lord Advocate being compromised by the initiation of politically driven prosecutions based on "dubious and slender" evidence.

"Many of us believe there are prosecutions which are politically driven. Mr Megrahi was one of them," he says.

"It was before devolution but it is incredible that any independent Lord Advocate would institute proceedings in such an important case on such dubious and slender evidence."

Hamilton's comments can be read in full here.