The SNP’s ‘country’ Minister, a pro-Indy hotel boss and a very murky rural affair
Top Nationalist abused his ministerial role to help businessman in planning row, claim Tories
A NATIONALIST Minister faces accusations he abused his office to do a favour for a pro-independence businessman.
Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing – a long-serving member of the Scottish Government under Nicola Sturgeon and Alex Salmond – lobbied for a Highland hotelier involved in a planning dispute.
The Scottish Tories believe Mr Ewing unfairly used his influence as a Minister to try to help Colin Watt, whose hotel has been a venue for an SNP fundraising event.
The Conservatives claim the MSP lobbied on behalf of the hotelier even after a warning that Mr Watt was facing a criminal inquiry.
The Tories have twice written to the First Minister demanding Mr Ewing be investigated for a potential breach of the ministerial code.
Only Ms Sturgeon can order such an inquiry but she blocked both requests, leading to calls for reform so she can no longer act as ‘judge and jury over her own Ministers’.
A Freedom of Information request shows emails about Mr Watt were sent from Mr Ewing’s office by his Governmentappointed private secretary.
Ed Mountain, Scottish Tory MSP for Highlands and Islands, said: ‘All MSPs have a responsibility to stand up for their constituents but this seems to be more than that.
‘We have a Cabinet Secretary who appears to be using his ministerial
‘Ms Sturgeon’s refusal to probe this is wrong’
office to contact an agency that reports to him about a constituent who may have broken the law.
‘Nicola Sturgeon’s refusal to probe this flagrant breach of the ministerial code is wrong and highlights the flaws of the system.
‘It is up to the First Minister to act as judge and jury over her own ministerial team, and it’s clear that this First Minister is failing to discharge that duty properly. She is allowing her ministerial team to escape the sanction they deserve.’
Mr Watt owns the Carrbridge Hotel, in Carrbridge, Moray. He wants to build a car park so the hotel has the capacity to stay open in winter as a conference venue.
However, the plans have been challenged by the Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA).
Then Mr Watt was investigated by Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS) – which reports to Mr Ewing – over claims he illegally felled trees to make room for the car park. The FCS sent a report to the Crown Office, but prosecutors decided to take no action.
Frustrated by the delay, Mr Watt contacted Mr Ewing, his constituency MSP for Inverness and Nairn, last June. His first email made clear he backs the SNP on the constitution. It said: ‘The sooner Scotland has independence the better.’
He sent three emails to which Mr Ewing replied. In one, he asked Mr Ewing to intervene.
He wrote: ‘Unless there is clear direction and intervention then the development to create further job security and much-needed infrastructure and amenity, along with an uplift in economic activity, will be put at serious risk.’
When Mr Ewing contacted the FCS for his constituent, the emails came from his Ministerial private secretary. She told the FCS: ‘Mr Ewing would be grateful for urgent advice on the below.’
She suggested the issue could be added to the Government’s Ministerial and Corporate Correspondence System. In response, the FCS warned the Minister that Mr Watt had been investigated for alleged illegal tree felling, and had been officially ordered to replant them.
The FCS warned Mr Ewing should be mindful of this before ‘engaging with Mr Watt at this time’. Mr Ewing continued to press the case.
His Ministerial private secretary asked to set up a phone call with the FCS and Mr Ewing appeared with Mr Watt in a local newspaper, saying: ‘I am concerned and disappointed that the reasonable requirements of the Carrbridge Hotel have not found favour with the CNPA.’
Last week, Mr Watt said he was not in the SNP and did not know Mr Ewing before asking for help with the car park problem.
‘They could just park legally on the road, but we’re trying to be good neighbours,’ Mr Watt said.
He submitted a formal planning application for the car park in January, which has been called in by the CNPA. It has received dozens of letters of objection – one from the FCS – and dozens in support.
Grant Moir, chief executive of the CNPA, said: ‘While the site in question is not allocated in the local development plan for this type of use, Mr Watt’s application will be assessed on its merits and against our planning policies.’
The FCS referred calls to the Scottish Government.
A Government spokesman said: ‘Mr Ewing has maintained the proper separation of constituency and Ministerial responsibilities. There are no grounds to suggest he breached the ministerial code.’