Ministers at Holyrood plan to give Scottish judges new sentencing powers and guidelines over areas such as road traffic and drugs offences which have traditionally been determined by Westminster.

MINISTERS at Holyrood plan to give Scottish judges new sentencing powers and guidelines over areas such as road traffic and drugs offences which have traditionally been determined by Westminster.

They unveiled details yesterday of how Scotland's first Sentencing Council will operate, in an effort to ensure consistency of judges and sheriffs. The new council, an SNP manifesto promise, will include a representative of victims and two members of the general public.

However, ministers also took the unprecedented step of encroaching on Westminster's legal territory, saying: "We think the (Sentencing) Council should be able to issue guidelines on offences in reserved areas of law for which the UK Government has responsibility.

"We are currently considering how this might best be achieved, including the role of the UK Government in being consulted by the council on draft guidelines that relate to such areas."

Other sentencing matters which Scottish ministers might seek to annexe include gambling, health and safety, and firearms law, especially in the wake of Andrew Morton's killing by an airgun. The SNP has consistently campaigned for a change in firearm legislation but has been rebuffed by the Home Office. While sentencing is devolved, the legislation governing such matters remains reserved.

Last night a spokeswoman at the UK Ministry of Justice would not comment other than to say the issue was a matter for the Scottish Government.

Under the Scottish Government proposals, judges who fail to keep within the guidelines would have to state their reasons for doing so and the public would be given a say in sentencing policy.

While lawyers welcomed the move, some members of the judiciary yesterday warned against "interference" in their independence. One sheriff said: "There are concerns about this and how much it could infringe on decisions and whether this would entail interference. Guidelines in England and Wales, for example, have sometimes been too prescriptive and led to sentencing drift and more people going to prison.

"For the more complex cases, I think guidelines could help with consistency, depending on how they are handled."

A Scottish Sentencing Council, which would produce guidelines for sentences imposed by courts, would be required to publish its proposals and allow time for public comment.

Once the guidelines have been finalised, judges in all courts, including the appeal court, would be under a legal duty to adhere to them. They could depart from the guidelines if the circumstances of a case required this but would have to give their reasons.

The council would be chaired by a judge, and it would also include a sheriff, a justice of the peace, nominees from the Crown Office, Association of Chief Police Officers, the Faculty of Advocates and the Law Society of Scotland.

There would also be one representative of a victims' organisation and two non-judicial members.

Kenny MacAskill, the Justice Secretary, said: "We believe there is a strong case for a system of sentencing guidelines to help deliver more consistent and transparent sentencing and a judicially led Sentencing Council to develop that system."

A sentencing commission set up by the previous Labour-LibDem administration called in 2006 for a system of sentencing guidelines to be put in place.

The consultation paper which is published today acknowledges the importance of judicial discretion in setting the right sentence in each case.

Pauline McNeill, Labour's justice spokeswoman, said: "If the SNP want to achieve transparency in sentencing as it is an objective of the Sentencing Council, they should get on with the issue that most concerns the public and that is ending automatic early release."

Bill Aitken, the Scottish Tory justice spokesman, said a Sentencing Council was "all very well and would certainly aid consistency".

He went on: "My view is that judges and sheriffs already do a reasonable job and that the thing causing really intense public disquiet is the fact that so many offenders are now released on a tag after serving just a quarter of the sentence handed out by the judge."