Lawyers seek help to pay for Salmond expenses

ALEX Salmond’s lawyers have asked the Scottish Government to help pay the ex-First Minister’s legal expenses.

Lawyers at Levy and McRae have written to Deputy First Minister John Swinney and senior civil servant Lesley Fraser about the issue, as a row continues over whether key legal documents should be handed over to a Holyrood inquiry.

They have also contacted members of the committee set up to investigate the Government’s bungled handling of harassment allegations against Mr Salmond, appealing to the members for help.

Lawyer David McKie told the committee: ‘It cannot be fair that our client has been left to fund this personally when both the inquiry and the Scottish Government have legal support provided by the public purse.’

He said Mr Salmond – who raised more than £100,000 in a crowdfunding campaign to help with the costs of his legal challenge against the Government – has been ‘put at a significant financial disadvantage in this whole process’. Mr Salmond was awarded £512,250 after the Court of Session ruled that the Government’s handling of the allegations against him was unlawful.

Mr McKie, in a letter released by the Holyrood committee, stressed the former SNP leader is ‘a private citizen’ who has ‘already incurred significant personal expense’.

The lawyer told Mr Swinney and Miss Fraser: ‘He does not, like you, have the benefit of a publicly funded legal department. He does not have access to the advice of counsel paid for by the taxpayer. The inequality of arms is stark.’

As a result, Mr McKie said Mr Salmond ‘requires assistance on funding’ to enable him to take legal advice on the documents.

He asked the Scottish Government to ‘confirm that you will assist our client with that funding, which would also include his representation in any proposed court action raised by you’.