SOMETHING TO HIDE PAGES
Sturgeon ‘disrespecting’ MSPs with refusal to release legal advice
NICOLA Sturgeon was yesterday accused of ‘ having something to hide’ as she again refused to commit to publishing legal advice on the Alex Salmond court battle.
The First Minister was pressed on the issue after MSPs voted for a second time to demand disclosure of legal advice obtained prior to the judicial review.
Mr Salmond was awarded more than £500,000 after the Scottish Government’s handling of complaints against him was deemed unlawful.
Ruth Davidson, leader of the Scottish Tory group at Holyrood, accused Miss Sturgeon of disrespecting the will of the parliament.
Later, Miss Sturgeon’s spokesman refused to say if a decision to publish the advice would be made by the end of this year – raising doubt about whether it will be released in time to form part of the Holyrood inquiry.
It comes as Miss Sturgeon last night admitted in a TV interview that her relationship with Mr Salmond had ‘broken down’ – and she r efused t o contemplate whether it could be retrieved.
At First Minister’s Questions yesterday, Miss Davidson claimed Miss Sturgeon had ‘ broken her promise’ after previously pledging that she would provide any material requested by the Holyrood inquiry into the way complaints about Mr Salmond were handled.
Miss Davidson said: ‘ The blunt fact is this – the only conceivable reason that she is breaking her promise is because she has something to hide.
‘So let’s try this a different way. I will say what the legal advice contained and the First Minister can tell me if I’m wrong.
‘The advice received by the Scottish Government’s senior counsel warned that the Scottish Government’s handling of the sexual harassment allegations was deeply flawed, and that the judicial review would f i nd in f avour of Alex Salmond, as it duly went on to do.
‘This advice was proffered to the Scottish Government long before it finally collapsed their own case, running up hundreds of thousands of pounds’ worth of bills in the process, and utterly failing the women who came forward. So tell the public which part of that I got wrong?’
Miss Sturgeon responded: ‘As Ruth Davidson knows, if I was to go into the detail I would stand here right now and breach the ministerial code. Perhaps Ruth Davidson wants that to be the case, but I’m not going to do that.’
The ministerial code sets out that ministers ‘must not divulge’ legal advice, other than ‘in exceptional circumstances’ when they can consider that the ‘balance of public interest’ favours disclosure.
In these circumstances, they must obtain the prior consent of law officers before disclosing.
The Scottish Government has refused to confirm whether ministers have sought the consent of law officers since MSPs first voted for the advice to be disclosed earlier this month.
Miss Sturgeon said: ‘The starting point in the ministerial code is that ministers must not divulge the contents of legal advice unless certain tests are fulfilled. And we are going through a process right now of consideration of those tests... Once the process has concluded, the Deputy First Minister will update parliament about the outcome of it.’
Asked yesterday if a decision on whether to publish the legal advice will be made by the end of this calendar year, a spokesman for the First Minister said the process is ‘under way’ and it will ‘ continue until it comes to a conclusion’.
However, he also stressed: ‘In Scotland, there has never been a case of legal advice of this nature being published.’
Miss Davidson said: ‘The cynical obfuscation that we have seen to the committee, from the Deputy First Minister in last night’s debate, and from the First Minister here today, only serves to show why this advice needs to be brought into the open.
‘The sheer hypocrisy of this is overwhelming.
‘Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP never tire of lecturing anyone who will listen about the will of parliament and how i t should be respected, except of course when it doesn’t suit their purpose.
‘She says that her Government will co-operate with the committee; in fact, she obstructs it.’
Meanwhile, in an interview last night with BBC Scotland, Miss Sturgeon admitted that ‘the relationship between Alex and I has broken down’.
Asked if it could be retrieved, the First Minister said: ‘I can’t see into the future. There are bigger issues at stake here.’
Meanwhile, the scope of legal advice the Salmond inquiry is seeking has been narrowed after weeks of wrangling.
Committee convener Linda Fabiani has written to Mr Swinney to limit the scope of the request, clarifying that the inquiry is only seeking the legal advice on the chances of the Scottish Government winning the case, in a bid to reduce the length of time it is taking to receive the advice.
‘Sheer hypocrisy is overwhelming’