John Swinney has been forced to reveal the Scottish Government’s legal advice during the Alex Salmond civil case it lost – or face losing a vote of no confidence. Details will be given today to the committee looking at the botched probe into Mr Salmond, p

John Swinney has been forced by opposition MSPs to reveal the Scottish Government’s legal advice during the Alex Salmond civil case it lost.

The government confirmed the details would be shared with the committee investigating the botched probe into Mr Salmond today.

The evidence has been viewed as key to the work of the inquiry, but the government had previously insisted it remain secret, despite two votes of parliament demanding its release.

However, a rethink was announced after it became clear opposition parties had enough votes to pass a “no confidence” motion in Mr Swinney, the deputy first minister.

Mr Swinney said: “In normal circumstances, government legal advice is not released.

“Indeed, such is the importance of being able to get frank, private advice, it is almost unheard of for the legal advice to be released.

“But, we have to acknowledge that the issues at stake now are not normal. The very integrity of the legal system is being questioned.

“Serious allegations have been made. This material allows people to confirm that these allegations are false.

“We have already shared in private with the Scottish Parliament’s committee on these issues the substance of the advice.

“Now, we recognise that in order to counter the false claims being made by some, we must go further. Subject to the mandatory legal checks and processes, we will release the key legal advice.”

Tory MSP Murdo Fraser, who sits on the Salmond committee, tweeted: “What a shameless opportunistic bunch this SNP Government are.

“They ignore two votes in parliament demanding the legal advice is published, and it’s only when the deputy FM sees the writing on the wall that they cave.

“Disgraceful contempt of parliament.”

The motion had been lodged by the Scottish Conservatives as the inquiry into the handling of allegations against Mr Salmond nears its conclusion.

Confirming the motion, Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross said yesterday: “Women were let down and more than £500,000 of taxpayers’ money was lost.

“The public deserves to know what happened and the legal advice is crucial to uncovering what mistakes were made.”

The make-up of the parliament means that had a vote taken place, it could have come down to the Scottish Greens, who had already reaffirmed their view that the legal advice should be made available to the committee.

Speaking before Mr Swinney’s decision to release the legal advice, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said: “Nicola Sturgeon has no choice but to order John Swinney to publish the advice in public and in full.

“If she does not she will lose her deputy first minister, who is an important pillar of her government.

“It’s a straight choice: John Swinney or the legal advice in full and in public.”

Following the former first minister’s evidence on Friday, Lord Advocate James Wolffe is expected to appear again before the committee today, followed by the final witness, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, tomorrow.

The Holyrood committee was set up after Mr Salmond received a £512,000 payout following the Court of Session civil ruling that the Scottish Government’s handling of the complaints was “unlawful” and “tainted by apparent bias”.

“The public deserves to know what happened

RELUCTANT: John Swinney had not been happy previously to release the legal advice.