Keith Brown

While judges must declare relevant interests in a case before them they are not required to register them before a case arises, unlike the practice in some other jurisdictions.

Justice Secretary Keith Brown said the “openness scheme” will go ahead.

He told the Daily Record: “It was a manifesto commitment to create a register of interests for members of the judiciary to improve transparency and trust in the justice system.

“Now the new government is in place, we will start looking at ways this register can be introduced.”

Scotland’s judiciary has long opposed the creation of any such register. The incumbent Lord President, Lord Carloway, has warned in the past that such a register would deter applicants to the bench.

In 2017, Lord Carloway told the Public Petitions Committee that a register would deter lawyers from joining the bench and would help disgruntled litigants exact revenge after losing cases.

He said: “We have a relatively small pool of lawyers of excellence who are capable of taking on the job of being a member of our senior judiciary.

“We have particular difficulties with recruitment at the moment. If I were to say to senior members of the profession, ‘By the way, if you wish to become a judge you will have to declare all your pecuniary interests and open them to public scrutiny’, I have no doubt whatsoever that that would act as a powerful disincentive for lawyers of experience and skill becoming members of the judiciary.

“I can assure the committee, we need them more than they need us.”

He added: “Until such time as it’s demonstrated that there is corruption within the Scottish judiciary, I’m entirely satisfied that there is no requirement for a register of interests and that it would be positively detrimental to the administration of justice, particularly in relation to the recruitment of judges and especially at the higher level of the judiciary.”