Salmond Statement
The Parliamentary Committee has already heard evidence of activities by civil servants, special advisers, Ministers and SNP officials which taken individually could be put down to incompetence. However taken together, and over such a prolonged period, it becomes impossible to explain such conduct as inadvertent co-incidence. The inescapable conclusion is of a malicious and concerted attempt to damage my reputation and remove me from public life.
It is impossible to accept that such a radical expansion of the jurisdiction to cover not just former ministers of the current administration but also those of previous administrations was not specifically inserted to allow the complaint against me to be prosecuted.
Despite her protestations to the contrary the Permanent Secretary was chiefly responsible for the pursuit of an unlawful policy which has cost the Scottish people millions. The damage she has done to the reputation of the civil service is very significant.
The fact that even after the Government case collapsed, misinformation then appeared in both a press release from the Permanent Secretary and the First Minister’s statement to Parliament of 8th January 2019 speaks to an organisation unable and unwilling to admit the truth.
I leave to others the question of what is, or is not, a conspiracy but am very clear in my position that the evidence supports a deliberate, prolonged, malicious and concerted effort to damage my reputation.
It was clear that defeat in the Judicial Review would have severe consequences. The Special Adviser most associated with the policy believed that her job was in jeopardy and accordingly sought to change press releases in light of that.
The First Minister’s team felt threatened by the process as did the civil service.
The documentary evidence shows that special advisers were using civil servants and working with SNP officials in a fishing expedition to recruit potential complainants.
Deaths from Covid-19 infections over the festive period were twice as high as Scottish Government advisers had predicted, it has emerged.
Scientists within the Scottish Government had provided modelling on the number of deaths expected per day for each week in a briefing document for the First Minister in a four nations call with Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove.
Experts told Nicola Sturgeon that in the weeks immediately following the announcement of a fresh nationwide lockdown on January 4, the average number of deaths per day from Covid-19 would be around 25 and would likely drop further.
Instead, deaths rose at an alarming rate, averaging around 50 per day, by midjanuary, and are still yet to drop to the levels previously predicted.
For example, in a briefing document provided to the First Minister ahead of a four nations meeting on January 13, Scottish Government modellers had predicted a daily death rate of 27 for the week starting January 11, dropping to 25 per day in the week starting January 18.
In reality, Scotland saw death rates reach an average of 48 and 57 deaths per day respectively during those two weeks.
Death rates stayed high for the week commencing January 25 with 57 deaths per day recorded on average, despite modelling predictions of just 23.
Deaths are a lag indicator with Covid-19 and take around three weeks to start showing up in data.
Reacting to the difference in the modelling to reality, the Scottish Conservative’s health spokesperson Donald Cameron called for an investigation on why the data was so wrong.
He said: “It is crucial our Covid-19 modelling data is as accurate as possible. Ministers need to investigate why the modelling for predicted deaths in January got it so wrong.
“Any flaws found in the systemmustberemediedstraight away. This is of vital importance as we look for a safe exit strategy out of lockdown.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “This is modelling data, which by its very nature cannot be absolutely precise. We could not know the rate of growth of the new variant.”