‘It is clear as day that Sturgeon misled us’
No-confidence votes looming
IT is as ‘clear as day’ that Nicola Sturgeon has misled parliament and opposition parties must unite to call her to account, according to Douglas Ross.
The Scottish Tory leader yesterday pledged to press ahead with votes of no confidence in Miss Sturgeon and Deputy First Minister John Swinney over their handling of issues around complaints about Alex Salmond.
He claimed Holyrood leaders lost their jobs in the past for lesser transgressions and urged opposition parties to ‘join with us and confront them’.
The timing of the vote of no confidence in Mr Swinney will be discussed when the parliamentary bureau, which sets Holyrood business, meets today, and it is likely to occur tomorrow.
But Mr Ross also wants to bring forward a vote of no confidence in Miss Sturgeon over claims she has misled parliament and failed to act on warnings the Scottish Government was heading for defeat in the judicial review case brought by Mr Salmond.
The committee holding an inquiry into the handling of complaints will discuss today whether it believes Mr Swinney has provided all the legal advice it requires. It is also due to publish its final report, including an assessment of whether Miss Sturgeon has broken the ministerial code, within the next three weeks.
Mr Ross said at an event hosted by the Tory think-tank Onward yesterday: ‘It is as clear as day to any objective person that she misled parliament and failed to follow legal advice, both of which constitute breaches of the code. The SNP called for the resignation of Labour First Minister Henry McLeish for subletting his office, Conservative leader David McLetchie for expensing party business and Labour leader Wendy Alexander for failing to declare party donations.
‘Each of these transgressions are of a different order of magnitude to what Nicola Sturgeon has done, yet all of them lost their jobs.’
Mr Ross said a vote of no confidence in Miss Sturgeon needs to take place to give parliament the chance to have its say on her conduct and to hold her ‘to the same standards she has held others to’.
He urged other parties to ‘show they have the stomach to stand up to this SNP Government’.
Labour will hold talks on whether to back a vote of no confidence in Mr Swinney today, while the Liberal Democrats said they would consider supporting it if he does not produce further legal documents.
The Greens’ approach will depend on whether the inquiry committee concludes it has not received all required documents.
SNP deputy leader Keith Brown said: ‘The Tories are obsessed with playing political games, and that was exposed last week when they tabled a motion against the First Minister before she had even appeared at the committee.’