Sturgeon did not breach ministerial code: inquiry
AN independent report has cleared Scotland’s First Minister of breaching the ministerial code following her government’s botched handling of harassment allegations against Alex Salmond.
Nicola Sturgeon welcomed the results of the investigation, which was carried out by James Hamilton QC and challenged her political rivals to respect his verdict.
The Conservatives, however, insisted that she was not “free and clear” despite Mr Hamilton stating the First Minister “did not breach the provisions of the ministerial code”.
Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross hit out: “This report does not change the overwhelming evidence that Nicola Sturgeon misled Parliament, her government badly let women down and wasted more than £500,000 of taxpayers’ money.”
The former first minister was awarded more than £500,000 when the Court of Session in Edinburgh ruled the Scottish Government had acted unlawfully in the way it handled harassment allegations made by two women.
Ms Sturgeon again apologised to them for the way they had been “let down” by the Scottish Government.
She said: “I want, once again, to remind people that at the heart of this case were women who had the courage to come forward and complain.”
Mr Hamilton, a former director of public prosecutions in the Republic of Ireland, is the independent adviser to the Scottish Government on the ministerial code, a set of rules about how ministers should conduct themselves. After his findings were published Ms Sturgeon said she was “happy that his report’s findings clear me of any breach of the ministerial code”.
The First Minister insisted: “I sought at every stage in this issue to act with integrity and in the public interest.
“As I have previously made clear, I did not consider that I had broken the code, but these findings are official, definitive and independent adjudication of that.”
And she added: “Prior to its publication, opposition politicians stressed the importance of respecting and accepting the outcome of Mr Hamilton’s independent inquiry, and I committed wholeheartedly to doing so.
“Now that he has reported, it is incumbent on them to do likewise.”