Scottish Government defies calls to hand over legal documents

The Scottish Government has again defied calls to hand over legal advice to the Alex Salmond inquiry relating to its botched handling of harassment claims against the former first minister.

John Swinney, deputy first minister, suggested it would not be in the “public interest” to waive the Scottish Government’s right to legal privilege to share the information about the civil court case involving Mr Salmond.

Mr Swinney maintained his stance despite admitting that the Scottish Government had authorised disclosure of legal advice to previous inquiries on other matters.

In a letter to the Holyrood committee carrying out the inquiry, Mr Swinney said disclosure of documents would only be granted when there were “compelling reasons” to do so.

His letter was published hours before Scottish Government Permanent Secretary Leslie Evans and Lord Advocate James Wolffe QC give evidence to the inquiry.

His response is likely to further anger MSPs on the committee who have long been demanding that the Scottish Government give them access to as much documentation as possible.

Mr Swinney’s letter was in response to one sent by committee convener Linda Fabiani of the SNP, who complained MSPs had only been sent a “very limited” number of government documents when it came to the phase of the inquiry looking at Mr Salmond’s judicial review.

Mr Salmond took successful legal action against the Scottish Government. A judicial review found that the Scottish Government’s internal investigation into claims made against the former first minister was unlawful and tainted with apparent bias. The Scottish Government then paid out more than £500,000 in taxpayers’ money to meet Mr Salmond’s legal costs.

In her letter, Ms Fabiani had pointed out the Scottish Government had waived legal privilege in the past when there were “exceptional circumstances”.