Slopping out

So far £11m has been paid to more than 3,700 prisoners after a judge ruled their human rights had been breached by slopping out their prison cell toilets.

While there's a one-year time bar for such claims in England and Wales, a House of Lords ruling in October 2007 said claims in Scotland could date back to 2001, when human rights laws became operational.

Both Kenny MacAskill, the Scottish justice minister, and Jim Murphy, the Scottish Secretary, say they want to see an end to this anomoly (although only Westminster can change this by amending the Scotland Act). But, on today's Morning Extra, the solicitor Tony Kelly told us this is all about politics. He says the arguments were well debated years ago, the politicians were well aware of the position and now they're conveniently blaming everyone apart from themselves.

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