JUSTICE Secretary Humza Yousaf has ridiculed UK government plans to make terrorists being paroled take "Jeremy Kyle" style lie detector tests.

His rejection of the proposal infuriated the Tories who claimed Scotland was “blocking” a vital component of the UK government’s new Counter Terror and Sentencing Bill.

The legislation will see those convicted of terror offences given a minimum sentence of 14 years and subjected to polygraph testing when they’re paroled. 

The new law, which is currently making its way through the Houses of Parliament, was brought in after last year's London Bridge attack when Jack Merritt and Saskia Jones were stabbed to death.

It later emerged that the 28-year-old killer was a convicted terrorist who had been out of prison on licence for more than a year after serving half of a 16-year sentence.

Because justice is devolved to Holyrood, Tory ministers will need MSPs to pass a Legislative Consent Motion (LCM).

But in a letter to the UK Government, Yousaf said he was "unconvinced by policy merits of the use of polygraph in Scotland."

Scottish Tory MP Andrew Bowie told The Sun: “Typical SNP: weak on terroism, weak on security.”

Bowie added: “When you look back on the history of the SNP and terrorists - not least the release of the Lockerbie bomber - they have consistently been weak on protecting the safety of Scots.”

And he urged Scottish ministers to “immediately take action to make sure this important law is applied across the entire United Kingdom or Scotland will be left weaker than England and Wales.”

Taking to Twitter after the paper reported Bowie's comments, Yousaf tweeted: "This policy has rightly been ridiculed."

He added: “We don't use 'Jeremy Kyle' polygraph tests in our Justice system in Scotland, never have. UK Govt Ministers want power to introduce them in Scotland without consent of Scot Govt & Parliament.

“This measure won't keep us safe.”

He added: “What's worrying is UK Govt want to be able to bypass Scottish Parliament & Govt & have power to introduce polygraph tests in our justice system without our consent - justice is devolved (hence why they would need an LCM).”

Yousaf was backed by Naomi McAuliffe, the head of Amnesty Scotland. She tweeted: “Lie detectors don't work. Human rights orgs would use all the evidence we have internationally about the misuse of these deeply flawed tests in legal proceedings. This has ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with the UK's constitutional arrangements.”

In a submission to a Westminster committee, the Law Society of Scotland said: “These are significant issues for Scotland as we do not currently use polygraphs in any form of criminal law or monitoring of offenders. Since this represents a significant step, there should be discussion as to their appropriateness for Scotland.”

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said discussions were “ongoing”.

“We will be introducing polygraph testing for terrorists who are released from prison in England and Wales.

“We’re already legislating to deliver that. Discussions between the Ministry of Justice and the Scottish Government on the use of polygraph testing in Scotland are ongoing. We consider that polygraph testing as a license condition will be an additional tool to support the management of terrorist offenders.”