OPPOSITION MPs last night claimed to have forced Scottish Secretary Michael Forsyth into making major concessions on the Crime and Punishment (Scotland) Bill to get it on the statute book before the General Election.

The Liberal Democrats claimed they had successfully negotiated an amendment which left discretion on sentencing to the Scottish courts, overcoming Mr Forsyth's contentious proposal which had been widely opposed by the legal fraternity.

In practice, they said, there will be mandatory sentencing, but the new amendment will give the courts the right to override it.

The Liberal Democrats also claimed the credit for pressurising the Government into accepting an independent commission to consider alleged miscarriages of justice, the key recommendation of the Sutherland report.

Archy Kirkwood, the Liberal Democrats' chief whip, maintained they had ''driven a coach and horses through the Bill''.

Mr Kirkwood consistently warned the Government throughout the progress of the Bill that they thought it was so flawed they would oppose it to the bitter end.

He accused the Labour Party of ''rolling over left right and centre'' to co-operate with the Government.

Shadow Scottish Secretary George Robertson disputed the Liberal Democrats' version of events, claiming it was only because Shadow Home Secretary Jack Straw had maintained opposition to mandatory sentencing for drug dealers in the English Crime (Sentences) Bill that Mr Forsyth had climbed down to bring the law into line on both sides of the border.

He said that while Labour had only had that one objection to the English Bill, the Home Secretary had backed down rather than risk a vote.

Mr Robertson, who was claiming the credit for the abandonment of juvenile tagging and the moratorium on appointments of judges or sheriffs until after the election, said that due to Labour pressure no part of the Bill would come into effect without further consideration.

Roseanna Cunningham, the SNP spokeswoman on justice and equality, claimed that Labour should have secured much more in the light of the Government's desperation to get the Bill through all its stages.

She said: ''This was an opportunity for Labour to dig their heels in and make improvements to a piece of legislation which is certainly flawed.

''There were a number of areas, such as protection for vulnerable witnesses with learning disabilities or mental health problems, where more progress could have been made.''

The Bill is expected to complete its stages in the House of Lords today - which means its report and third reading - and then to be back in the Commons tomorrow.

Meanwhile, a Bill aimed at giving Scottish crofters a better deal cleared its final Commons hurdle yesterday and is set to become law before Friday's prorogation of Parliament ahead of the General Election campaign.

The Transfer of Crofting Estates (Scotland) Bill, which allows the Scottish Secretary to dispose of Government-held crofting land to new crofting trusts was given an unopposed third reading.

Labour's Brian Wilson (Cunninghame North) said the measure was ''harmless'' but was only a start as it did not deal with ''abuses'' on private estates.

Mr Charles Kennedy (Ross Cromarty & Skye - Lib Dem) said he welcomed the Bill as far as it went, but added: ''We have a lot further to go in this area in future years.''

For the SNP Mrs Margaret Ewing (Moray) said the Bill was a ''lost opportunity'' to tackle the feudal system of land ownership in parts of Scotland.

And in a final rush of business all the Government's outstanding legislation will reach the Statute Book by the end of parliamentary business tomorrow.

It will mean the Lords in particular sitting late into the night today and tomorrow. In that time 28 Government Bills and nine backbench MPs' Bills will become law. But 13 backbench Bills, among them Tory Lord Archer's Succession to the Crown Bill, which would remove discrimination on grounds of gender to inheriting the Crown, will not succeed. Another casualty is a Bill which would effectively have led to British withdrawal from the European Union.