Scotland’s high court has removed an obstacle to the transfer from prison of the Libyan convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, ruling that he can drop his second appeal against his conviction.

The ruling was made on Tuesday as Alex Salmond, Scotland’s first minister, said his government had consulted the Obama administration – which has made plain its desire to see Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi remain in jail – as well as Libya’s government and US and UK relatives of the victims of the bombing.