Mike Dailly, convener of the Law Society's Access to Justice Committee has challenged Kenny MacAskill to justify the emergency legislation being implemented today in a 4 hour period in response to the Cadder verdict, claiming the hastily introduced extensions to allowed holding periods are an "affront to the democratic process" and "completely unneccessary".

"‘For over a year’ revealed the Cabinet Secretary for Justice, ‘the Scottish Government, Crown Office, SLAB, ACPOS, and the Scottish Courts Service have been preparing contingency plans to deal with all possible eventualities arising from this case’", Dailly says.

"So why on earth has the Scottish Government introduced these plans as an Emergency Bill – to be passed within 4 hours today (all three stages) – with no consultation with civic Scotland?

"It would have been easy to have undertaken a public consultation on ‘here are our thoughts in the event of A, B or C’. Consulting with the people of Scotland is part of the democratic process of the Scottish Parliament. But today, we have an affront to the democratic process in Scotland, completely unnecessary given Mr MacAskill’s admission on the gestation period for his ‘Emergency Bill’, and completely reckless in my view from a good governance and law-making perspective.

"Within 4 hours, our elected representatives will decide whether to increase the time period upon which police officers can lawfully detain suspects by 400% - from 6 hours to 24 hours – changing 30 years of practice with no prior consultation or public debate. There is no need for such haste, particulary when Crown office interim measures are already in place in Scotland.

"One of the most startling things I took from Cadder was Lord Rodger’s observation that the rights of Scots on being detained by the police over the last 30 years had been weaker than the position under section 17 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1887. Just think about that. You had more rights as a suspect during the reign of Queen Victoria than now."

Dailly's comments can be read in full, here.