MSPS warned of Salmond advice wait
MSPS on Holyrood's Alex Salmond i nquir y could face a lengthy wait to get access to legal advice at the heart of the probe – even if the Scottish Government makes it public.
Deputy First Minister John Swinney has written to the committee after it raised concerns about the use of legal privilege to withhold certain documents from being made public.
Mr Swinney warned he was still considering whether to make the legal advice public. But this potential move came under fire from one member of the committee, established to probe the Scottish Government's handling of complaints about the former First Minister, who branded it a "democratic outrage2.
Mr Salmond was cleared of a string of sexual assault charges at the High Court in March. This came after he won a judicial review against the Scottish Government over its handling of internal complaints made against him by two civil servants.
The Scottish Government last week lost a vote at Holyrood, which called on it to publish the legal advice it received relating to a judicial review brought by the former first minister over its handling of that internal probe.
Mr Swinney today said he was s t i l l "c onsidering t he implications" of the vote in Parliament last week. But he added: "Even if ministers take the decision that the balance of public interest favours disclosure in a particular case, they must obtain the prior consent of law officers and that consent will be given only if there are ‘ compelling reasons’.
“I cannot, therefore, give a specific timescale when an outcome will be confirmed, but I will aim to update Parliament on progress on this matter as soon as possible."
And even i f they agree to this, the Deputy First Minister warns that further work would be required to "implement the waiver”. This would include reviewing all redactions on a range of documents
which are soon to be released and have already been made public.
B u t L a b o u r c o mmi t t e e member Jackie Baillie branded the letter "extraordinary”. She said: "By failing to hand
over the legal advice today the Deputy First Minister has shown utter contempt for the committee and t he wishes of the Scottish Parliament.”