Crime talks not 'plain sailing'

Crime was a key priority for voters

Labour and the Liberal Democrats are locked in a second day of talks aimed at reaching a deal on the issue of crime.

Labour's deputy leader Cathy Jamieson said discussions had not been "plain sailing" and issues were still being thrashed out.

Negotiating teams worked late into Thursday night and spent Friday debating the subject.

But First Minister Jack McConnell claimed earlier that there been "no sticking point" in the talks, which began on Tuesday.

Ms Jamieson said the the parties had now looked at all the items in both manifestos but there was still work to be done.

I don't think anybody expected any of these negotiations to be all plain sailing or straightforward

Cathy Jamieson

She said both sides wanted to obtain "some factual information" but insisted that did not include whether a Labour proposal to jail the parents of unruly children would break human rights laws.

She added: "There are some issues that still require further work. I don't think anybody expected any of these negotiations to be all plain sailing or straightforward.

"It's the same in every policy area and there are things we actually have to get into a bit more detail about."

Labour and the Liberal Democrats have already reached tentative agreements on education, enterprise and health.

Youth crime

But plans to introduce measures that could lead to the jailing of parents of unruly children could prove a major difficulty between the parties.

Lib Dem leader Jim Wallace branded the proposals "unworkable" during the election campaign, but Mr McConnell has signalled his intention to get tough on Scotland's yob culture.

The coalition negotiations got under way on Tuesday and have so far progressed relatively smoothly.

Both parties also denied suggestions that disagreements on health were holding up the negotiations.

Weekend talks

Tavish Scott MSP, who is leading the Lib Dem delegation, claimed there were no "stumbling blocks" over health policy.

He said: "In both our manifestos there was more on health than anything else. That's just simply taking more time to work through.

"It's arguably the biggest department of government and that reflects the time being taken to get through the health agenda."

Draft texts were being drawn up on social justice, health and transport policies and a group was being set up to discuss green policies.

The negotiations are carrying on at the Scottish Executive's St. Andrew's House headquarters throughout Friday, with more discussions taking place over the weekend.