Kenny MacAskill
Encyclopedia
Kenneth "Kenny" Wright MacAskill (born 28 April 1958) is the Scottish Government's Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Scottish National Party
Member
of the Scottish Parliament
for Edinburgh Eastern
, formerly Edinburgh East and Musselburgh
since 2007. He was previously a regional MSP for Lothian since 1999
, and had been Shadow Justice and Home Affairs Minister.
Born in Edinburgh, MacAskill was educated at Linlithgow Academy
and Edinburgh University, and was a senior partner in a law firm. He was a long standing member of the SNP's National Executive Committee and has been National Treasurer and Vice Convener of Policy. In 2004 Kenny wrote a book entitled Building a Nation - Post Devolution Nationalism in Scotland. He has since edited another book Agenda for a New Scotland - Visions of Scotland 2020 and has co-authored two books on the Scottish Diaspora, Global Scots - Voices From Afar and Wherever the Saltire Flies, with the former First Minister Henry McLeish
.
and was educated at Linlithgow Academy
before studying law at the University of Edinburgh
. After completing his training at a firm in Glasgow, he set up Erskine MacAskill. He is married with two sons.
He came to prominence inside the SNP through his activities in the left wing 79 Group
and became a party office bearer. In the 1980s he led the "Can't Pay, Won't Pay" campaign in opposition to the Poll Tax
. It was widely known that he often disagreed politically with Alex Salmond
, leader of the SNP through the 1990s, and he was at one stage viewed as belonging to the SNP Fundamentalist
camp, being perceived to be allied to figures such as Jim Sillars
and Alex Neil within the party.
as a regional list member for the Lothians
he moderated his political position, seeing the development of the Scottish Parliament as the most achievable route for Scotland to become an independent nation state. In this respect he was regarded as having adopted a gradualist
approach to Scottish independence
in place of his previous fundamentalist position. He was one of former SNP leader John Swinney
's closest supporters.
In 1999 MacAskill was detained in London
before the Euro 2000
second leg play-off match between Scotland and England on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly. As he was not charged with any crime the incident did not affect his position within the SNP and he won re-election at the 2003 election
.
In 2004, after John Swinney
stood down as SNP party leader, Kenny MacAskill backed the joint leadership ticket of Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon
. He had initially intended to stand for deputy leader himself on a joint ticket with Nicola Sturgeon
, who would have sought the leadership. He gave way when Salmond reconsidered his earlier decision not to seek re-election to the leadership. Upon their election as leader and deputy leader respectively MacAskill was selected to be the SNP's deputy leader in the Scottish Parliament, making him the shadow Deputy First Minister.
MacAskill authored a book, 'Building a Nation - Post Devolution Nationalism in Scotland', which was launched at the SNP's 2004 annual conference in Inverness. He has since edited another book 'Agenda for a New Scotland - Visions of Scotland 2020' and has co-authored 'Global Scots - Voices From Afar' with former First Minister Henry McLeish
.
MacAskill was top of the SNP's party list for the Lothians region. He stood in the Edinburgh East and Musselburgh
constituency, winning that seat from the Scottish Labour Party
with a 13.3% swing to give a majority of 1,382. This was the first time the SNP had ever won a parliamentary seat in Edinburgh. After the SNP's victory at the 2007 Scottish Parliament Election
, MacAskill became the Cabinet Secretary for Justice.
One of MacAskill's first acts as a cabinet secretary was to lift the ban on alcohol sales at international rugby union
games held at Murrayfield Stadium
.
MacAskill also insisted that the 2007 terror attack on Glasgow Airport was not committed by 'home-grown' terrorists in that the suspects were not "born or bred" in Scotland but had merely lived in the country for a "period of time".
MacAskill won election to a redrawn constituency of Edinburgh Eastern
in the 2011 Scottish Parliament election
. Despite notionally facing a deficit of 550 votes, MacAskill won by over 2000 votes.
bomb that killed 270 people, acknowledging that "the American families and Government had an expectation or were led to believe that there would be no prisoner transfer." "Immediately after announcing this decision," however, MacAskill authorised al-Megrahi's release on compassionate grounds. Megrahi had served 8½ years of a life sentence, but doctors certified that he had developed prostate cancer
and had "only a very short period of time to live". The Justice Secretary has discretionary authority to order such a release, and MacAskill has taken sole responsibility for the decision.
As of September 2011, Megrahi is still alive.
In the United States, whence 180 of the 270 victims came, the decision met with broad hostility. Political figures including President Barack Obama
and Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton spoke out against it, and families of the victims expressed indignation over the decision. FBI director Robert Mueller
, who had been a lead investigator in the 1988 bombing, wrote a highly critical open letter to MacAskill. Former Labour First Minister Henry McLeish
was critical of Mueller's attack on the decision.
In Britain, reaction was divided. Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray
, former First Minister Jack McConnell
, and former Scottish Office minister Brian Wilson criticised the decision, while Scottish First Minister
Alex Salmond
, former Labour MP Tam Dalyell
and former British ambassador to Libya Richard Dalton
publicly supported it. Ian Galloway and Mario Conti, representatives of the Church of Scotland
and the Roman Catholic Church respectively, also spoke in favour of the release.
John Mosey, a priest who lost a daughter on Pan Am Flight 103, expressed his disappointment that halting Megrahi’s appeal before it went to court meant that the public would never hear "this important evidence — the six separate grounds for appeal that the SCCRC
felt were important enough to put forward, that could show that there’s been a miscarriage of justice." Saif al-Islam Gaddafi reiterated his belief in Megrahi's innocence commenting that the Justice Secretary had "made the right decision" and that history would prove this to be the case. A letter in support of MacAskill's decision was sent to the Scottish Government on behalf of former South African President Nelson Mandela
.
The Scottish Parliament
was recalled from its summer break, for the third time since its creation, to receive a statement from and question MacAskill. The opposition parties in the Scottish Parliament passed amendments criticising the decision and the way it was made, but no motions of confidence in MacAskill or the Scottish Government were tabled.
After MacAskill won re-election to the Scottish Parliament in 2011
, a Scottish National Party
supporter said that the decision had been mentioned by very few voters during the election campaign.
Scottish National Party
The Scottish National Party is a social-democratic political party in Scotland which campaigns for Scottish independence from the United Kingdom....
Member
Member of the Scottish Parliament
Member of the Scottish Parliament is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament.-Methods of Election:MSPs are elected in one of two ways:...
of the Scottish Parliament
Scottish Parliament
The Scottish Parliament is the devolved national, unicameral legislature of Scotland, located in the Holyrood area of the capital, Edinburgh. The Parliament, informally referred to as "Holyrood", is a democratically elected body comprising 129 members known as Members of the Scottish Parliament...
for Edinburgh Eastern
Edinburgh Eastern (Scottish Parliament constituency)
Edinburgh Eastern is a proposed constituency of the Scottish Parliament . It will elect one Member of the Scottish Parliament by the plurality method of election...
, formerly Edinburgh East and Musselburgh
Edinburgh East and Musselburgh (Scottish Parliament constituency)
Edinburgh East and Musselburgh is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament . It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament by the plurality method of election...
since 2007. He was previously a regional MSP for Lothian since 1999
Lothians (Scottish Parliament electoral region)
The Lothians was one of the eight electoral regions of the Scottish Parliament from 1999 to 2011. Nine of the parliament's 73 first past the post constituencies are sub-divisions of the region and it elects seven of the 56 additional-member Members of the Scottish Parliament...
, and had been Shadow Justice and Home Affairs Minister.
Born in Edinburgh, MacAskill was educated at Linlithgow Academy
Linlithgow Academy
Linlithgow Academy is the only secondary school in Linlithgow, West Lothian. The Academy was founded in 1894 and replaced an earlier kirk institution known as "Sang Schule"...
and Edinburgh University, and was a senior partner in a law firm. He was a long standing member of the SNP's National Executive Committee and has been National Treasurer and Vice Convener of Policy. In 2004 Kenny wrote a book entitled Building a Nation - Post Devolution Nationalism in Scotland. He has since edited another book Agenda for a New Scotland - Visions of Scotland 2020 and has co-authored two books on the Scottish Diaspora, Global Scots - Voices From Afar and Wherever the Saltire Flies, with the former First Minister Henry McLeish
Henry McLeish
Henry Baird McLeish is a Scottish Labour Party politician, author and academic. Formerly a professional association football player, McLeish was the Member of Parliament for Central Fife from 1987 to 2001 and the Member of the Scottish Parliament for Central Fife from 1999 to 2003, during which...
.
Background, early life and career
MacAskill was born in EdinburghEdinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
and was educated at Linlithgow Academy
Linlithgow Academy
Linlithgow Academy is the only secondary school in Linlithgow, West Lothian. The Academy was founded in 1894 and replaced an earlier kirk institution known as "Sang Schule"...
before studying law at the University of Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
. After completing his training at a firm in Glasgow, he set up Erskine MacAskill. He is married with two sons.
He came to prominence inside the SNP through his activities in the left wing 79 Group
79 Group
The 79 Group was an internal faction within the Scottish National Party , named after the fact that it was formed in 1979. The group sought to persuade the SNP to take an active left-wing stance, arguing that it would win more support, and were highly critical of the established SNP leaders...
and became a party office bearer. In the 1980s he led the "Can't Pay, Won't Pay" campaign in opposition to the Poll Tax
Community Charge
The Community Charge, popularly known as the "poll tax", was a system of taxation introduced in replacement of the rates to part fund local government in Scotland from 1989, and England and Wales from 1990. It provided for a single flat-rate per-capita tax on every adult, at a rate set by the...
. It was widely known that he often disagreed politically with Alex Salmond
Alex Salmond
Alexander Elliot Anderson "Alex" Salmond MSP is a Scottish politician and current First Minister of Scotland. He became Scotland's fourth First Minister in May 2007. He is the Leader of the Scottish National Party , having served as Member of the Scottish Parliament for Gordon...
, leader of the SNP through the 1990s, and he was at one stage viewed as belonging to the SNP Fundamentalist
SNP fundamentalist
The fundamentalist ideology within the Scottish National Party is the belief that the SNP should emphasise its policy of Scottish independence more widely in order to achieve it...
camp, being perceived to be allied to figures such as Jim Sillars
Jim Sillars
Jim Sillars is a Scottish politician. He is married to current member of the Scottish Parliament, Margo MacDonald.-Early life:...
and Alex Neil within the party.
Member of the Scottish Parliament (1999 - )
After MacAskill became on MSP in 1999 upon the establishment of the Scottish ParliamentScottish Parliament
The Scottish Parliament is the devolved national, unicameral legislature of Scotland, located in the Holyrood area of the capital, Edinburgh. The Parliament, informally referred to as "Holyrood", is a democratically elected body comprising 129 members known as Members of the Scottish Parliament...
as a regional list member for the Lothians
Lothians (Scottish Parliament electoral region)
The Lothians was one of the eight electoral regions of the Scottish Parliament from 1999 to 2011. Nine of the parliament's 73 first past the post constituencies are sub-divisions of the region and it elects seven of the 56 additional-member Members of the Scottish Parliament...
he moderated his political position, seeing the development of the Scottish Parliament as the most achievable route for Scotland to become an independent nation state. In this respect he was regarded as having adopted a gradualist
SNP gradualist
The gradualist viewpoint within the Scottish National Party is the idea that Scottish independence can be won by the accumulation by the Scottish Parliament of powers that the UK Parliament currently has over a protracted period of time...
approach to Scottish independence
Scottish independence
Scottish independence is a political ambition of political parties, advocacy groups and individuals for Scotland to secede from the United Kingdom and become an independent sovereign state, separate from England, Wales and Northern Ireland....
in place of his previous fundamentalist position. He was one of former SNP leader John Swinney
John Swinney
John Ramsey Swinney is the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth in the Scottish Government and the Scottish National Party Member of the Scottish Parliament for Perthshire North, having previously represented North Tayside...
's closest supporters.
In 1999 MacAskill was detained in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
before the Euro 2000
2000 UEFA European Football Championship
The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, or Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Football Championship, which is held every four years and organized by UEFA, association football's governing body in Europe....
second leg play-off match between Scotland and England on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly. As he was not charged with any crime the incident did not affect his position within the SNP and he won re-election at the 2003 election
Scottish Parliament election, 2003
The Scottish Parliament election, 2003, was the second general election of the Scottish Parliament. It was held on 1 May 2003 and it brought no change in terms of control of the Scottish Executive...
.
In 2004, after John Swinney
John Swinney
John Ramsey Swinney is the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth in the Scottish Government and the Scottish National Party Member of the Scottish Parliament for Perthshire North, having previously represented North Tayside...
stood down as SNP party leader, Kenny MacAskill backed the joint leadership ticket of Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon
Nicola Sturgeon
Nicola Sturgeon is the Deputy First Minister of Scotland, Cabinet Secretary for Health, Wellbeing and Cities Strategy, Deputy Leader of the Scottish National Party and Member for Glasgow Southside....
. He had initially intended to stand for deputy leader himself on a joint ticket with Nicola Sturgeon
Nicola Sturgeon
Nicola Sturgeon is the Deputy First Minister of Scotland, Cabinet Secretary for Health, Wellbeing and Cities Strategy, Deputy Leader of the Scottish National Party and Member for Glasgow Southside....
, who would have sought the leadership. He gave way when Salmond reconsidered his earlier decision not to seek re-election to the leadership. Upon their election as leader and deputy leader respectively MacAskill was selected to be the SNP's deputy leader in the Scottish Parliament, making him the shadow Deputy First Minister.
MacAskill authored a book, 'Building a Nation - Post Devolution Nationalism in Scotland', which was launched at the SNP's 2004 annual conference in Inverness. He has since edited another book 'Agenda for a New Scotland - Visions of Scotland 2020' and has co-authored 'Global Scots - Voices From Afar' with former First Minister Henry McLeish
Henry McLeish
Henry Baird McLeish is a Scottish Labour Party politician, author and academic. Formerly a professional association football player, McLeish was the Member of Parliament for Central Fife from 1987 to 2001 and the Member of the Scottish Parliament for Central Fife from 1999 to 2003, during which...
.
Cabinet Secretary for Justice (2007 -)
For the 2007 Scottish Parliament electionScottish Parliament election, 2007
The 2007 Scottish Parliament election was held on Thursday 3 May 2007 to elect members to the Scottish Parliament. It was the third general election to the devolved Scottish Parliament since it was created in 1999...
MacAskill was top of the SNP's party list for the Lothians region. He stood in the Edinburgh East and Musselburgh
Edinburgh East and Musselburgh (Scottish Parliament constituency)
Edinburgh East and Musselburgh is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament . It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament by the plurality method of election...
constituency, winning that seat from the Scottish Labour Party
Scottish Labour Party
The Scottish Labour Party is the section of the British Labour Party which operates in Scotland....
with a 13.3% swing to give a majority of 1,382. This was the first time the SNP had ever won a parliamentary seat in Edinburgh. After the SNP's victory at the 2007 Scottish Parliament Election
Scottish Parliament election, 2007
The 2007 Scottish Parliament election was held on Thursday 3 May 2007 to elect members to the Scottish Parliament. It was the third general election to the devolved Scottish Parliament since it was created in 1999...
, MacAskill became the Cabinet Secretary for Justice.
One of MacAskill's first acts as a cabinet secretary was to lift the ban on alcohol sales at international rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
games held at Murrayfield Stadium
Murrayfield Stadium
Murrayfield Stadium is a sports stadium located in the west end of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Its all-seater capacity was recently reduced from 67,800 to 67,130 to incorporate the largest permanent "big screen" in the country though it still remains the largest stadium in Scotland and one...
.
MacAskill also insisted that the 2007 terror attack on Glasgow Airport was not committed by 'home-grown' terrorists in that the suspects were not "born or bred" in Scotland but had merely lived in the country for a "period of time".
MacAskill won election to a redrawn constituency of Edinburgh Eastern
Edinburgh Eastern (Scottish Parliament constituency)
Edinburgh Eastern is a proposed constituency of the Scottish Parliament . It will elect one Member of the Scottish Parliament by the plurality method of election...
in the 2011 Scottish Parliament election
Scottish Parliament election, 2011
The 2011 Scottish Parliament general election was held on Thursday, 5 May 2011 to elect 129 members to the Scottish Parliament.The election delivered the first majority government since the opening of Holyrood, a remarkable feat as the mixed member proportional representation system is used to...
. Despite notionally facing a deficit of 550 votes, MacAskill won by over 2000 votes.
Pan Am Flight 103
On 19 August 2009, MacAskill rejected an application by Libya to transfer to their custody Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, convicted of the Pan Am Flight 103Pan Am Flight 103
Pan Am Flight 103 was Pan American World Airways' third daily scheduled transatlantic flight from London Heathrow Airport to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport...
bomb that killed 270 people, acknowledging that "the American families and Government had an expectation or were led to believe that there would be no prisoner transfer." "Immediately after announcing this decision," however, MacAskill authorised al-Megrahi's release on compassionate grounds. Megrahi had served 8½ years of a life sentence, but doctors certified that he had developed prostate cancer
Prostate cancer
Prostate cancer is a form of cancer that develops in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system. Most prostate cancers are slow growing; however, there are cases of aggressive prostate cancers. The cancer cells may metastasize from the prostate to other parts of the body, particularly...
and had "only a very short period of time to live". The Justice Secretary has discretionary authority to order such a release, and MacAskill has taken sole responsibility for the decision.
As of September 2011, Megrahi is still alive.
Reaction
In the United States, whence 180 of the 270 victims came, the decision met with broad hostility. Political figures including President Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
and Secretary of State
Secretary of State
Secretary of State or State Secretary is a commonly used title for a senior or mid-level post in governments around the world. The role varies between countries, and in some cases there are multiple Secretaries of State in the Government....
Hillary Clinton spoke out against it, and families of the victims expressed indignation over the decision. FBI director Robert Mueller
Robert Mueller
Robert Swan Mueller III is the 6th and current Director of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation .-Early life:...
, who had been a lead investigator in the 1988 bombing, wrote a highly critical open letter to MacAskill. Former Labour First Minister Henry McLeish
Henry McLeish
Henry Baird McLeish is a Scottish Labour Party politician, author and academic. Formerly a professional association football player, McLeish was the Member of Parliament for Central Fife from 1987 to 2001 and the Member of the Scottish Parliament for Central Fife from 1999 to 2003, during which...
was critical of Mueller's attack on the decision.
In Britain, reaction was divided. Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray
Iain Gray
Iain Gray is a Scottish politician and the Leader of Scottish Labour Party Opposition in the Scottish Parliament. Gray was elected as the Member of the Scottish Parliament for the East Lothian constituency in 2007 having previously represented Edinburgh Pentlands from 1999 to 2003.-Background and...
, former First Minister Jack McConnell
Jack McConnell
Jack Wilson McConnell, Baron McConnell of Glenscorrodale is a British Labour life peer in the House of Lords. He was third First Minister of Scotland from 2001 to 2007, making him the longest serving First Minister in the history of the Scottish Parliament...
, and former Scottish Office minister Brian Wilson criticised the decision, while Scottish First Minister
First Minister
A First Minister is the leader of a government cabinet.-Canada:In Canada, "First Ministers" is a collective term that refers to all Canadian first ministers of the Crown, otherwise known as heads of government, including the Prime Minister of Canada and the provincial and territorial premiers...
Alex Salmond
Alex Salmond
Alexander Elliot Anderson "Alex" Salmond MSP is a Scottish politician and current First Minister of Scotland. He became Scotland's fourth First Minister in May 2007. He is the Leader of the Scottish National Party , having served as Member of the Scottish Parliament for Gordon...
, former Labour MP Tam Dalyell
Tam Dalyell
Sir Thomas Dalyell Loch, 11th Baronet , known as Tam Dalyell, is a British Labour Party politician, who was a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons from 1962 to 2005, first for West Lothian and then for Linlithgow.-Early life:...
and former British ambassador to Libya Richard Dalton
Richard Dalton (diplomat)
Sir Richard John Dalton is a senior former diplomat who was knighted in the 2005 Queen's Birthday Honours List. Dalton retired from HM Diplomatic Service in 2006.-Diplomatic career:...
publicly supported it. Ian Galloway and Mario Conti, representatives of the Church of Scotland
Church of Scotland
The Church of Scotland, known informally by its Scots language name, the Kirk, is a Presbyterian church, decisively shaped by the Scottish Reformation....
and the Roman Catholic Church respectively, also spoke in favour of the release.
John Mosey, a priest who lost a daughter on Pan Am Flight 103, expressed his disappointment that halting Megrahi’s appeal before it went to court meant that the public would never hear "this important evidence — the six separate grounds for appeal that the SCCRC
Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission
The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission is a non-departmental public body in Scotland, established by the Criminal Procedure Act 1995 ....
felt were important enough to put forward, that could show that there’s been a miscarriage of justice." Saif al-Islam Gaddafi reiterated his belief in Megrahi's innocence commenting that the Justice Secretary had "made the right decision" and that history would prove this to be the case. A letter in support of MacAskill's decision was sent to the Scottish Government on behalf of former South African President Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
.
The Scottish Parliament
Scottish Parliament
The Scottish Parliament is the devolved national, unicameral legislature of Scotland, located in the Holyrood area of the capital, Edinburgh. The Parliament, informally referred to as "Holyrood", is a democratically elected body comprising 129 members known as Members of the Scottish Parliament...
was recalled from its summer break, for the third time since its creation, to receive a statement from and question MacAskill. The opposition parties in the Scottish Parliament passed amendments criticising the decision and the way it was made, but no motions of confidence in MacAskill or the Scottish Government were tabled.
After MacAskill won re-election to the Scottish Parliament in 2011
Scottish Parliament election, 2011
The 2011 Scottish Parliament general election was held on Thursday, 5 May 2011 to elect 129 members to the Scottish Parliament.The election delivered the first majority government since the opening of Holyrood, a remarkable feat as the mixed member proportional representation system is used to...
, a Scottish National Party
Scottish National Party
The Scottish National Party is a social-democratic political party in Scotland which campaigns for Scottish independence from the United Kingdom....
supporter said that the decision had been mentioned by very few voters during the election campaign.
See also
- Government of the 3rd Scottish ParliamentGovernment of the 3rd Scottish ParliamentThe Government of the 3rd Scottish Parliament was formed after the 2007 elections to the Scottish Parliament. The Scottish Government is headed by First Minister Alex Salmond.- First Salmond government :...
- Government of the 4th Scottish ParliamentGovernment of the 4th Scottish ParliamentThe Government of the 4th Scottish Parliament was formed after the 2011 elections to the Scottish Parliament. The Scottish Government is headed by First Minister Alex Salmond.- Second Salmond government :...
External links
- Kenny MacAskill MSP official site
- Kenny MacAskill MSP Scottish Parliament webpage
- Kenny MacAskill MSP biography at SNP website
- Kenny MacAskill MSP Scottish Government biography
- An independent Scotland hinges on its economy Kenny MacAskill's article in The ScotsmanThe ScotsmanThe Scotsman is a British newspaper, published in Edinburgh.As of August 2011 it had an audited circulation of 38,423, down from about 100,000 in the 1980s....
2 June 2005