Is THIS the £200k smoking gun that ’ll topple Sturgeon?
Extra cash was spent on Salmond case she couldn’t win ‘in breach of Ministerial Code’
NICOLA Sturgeon’s Government spent an extra £200,000 of taxpayers’ money on a doomed legal battle with Alex Salmond – even after lawyers said she was bound to fail.
The damning revelation is the clearest indication yet that the First Minister breached the Ministerial Code of Conduct.
And it prompted a furious warning last night from the Scottish Tories, who said: ‘She must resign or we will seek to force her out.’
Mr Salmond won a judicial review against the Scottish Government over its botched investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against him.
It was ruled the investigation was ‘tainted by apparent bias’ – and he was awarded more than £500,000 in legal costs, paid for by taxpayers.
Last year, at the High Court in Edinburgh, he was cleared of 13 sexual assault charges against nine women.
The First Minister faces several alleged breaches of the Ministerial Code – one being that she knowingly wasted public money by fighting a judicial review she knew she would lose. Last night, Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross said: ‘The First Minister thought she was a better lawyer than Queen’s Counsel and ignored their advice.
‘The disastrous decision to continue with this case after lawyers said it would lose has cost Scottish taxpayers hundreds of thousands of pounds – and the First Minister is to blame.
‘Nicola Sturgeon charged on knowing the case was doomed and that is a clear breach of the Ministerial Code.
‘She must resign or we will seek to force her out.’
Ms Sturgeon denied breaching the Ministerial Code when she appeared at Holyrood’s harassment committee last Wednesday.
She insisted that the Government believed it had ‘a stateable, credible and arguable position’, and this only changed on December 19, 2018, when newly disclosed documents dramatically weakened her case.
In fact, two days earlier, Roddy Dunlop, QC, the Government’s own counsel, warned: ‘We are firmly of the view that at least one of the challenges mounted by the petitioner will be successful.
‘We are entirely unconvinced as to what benefit that might arise from the hearing in January, that might outweigh the potentially disastrous repercussions thereof.’
Ms Sturgeon admitted on Wednesday that if she had continued to pursue the case after December 19, 2018, there would be ‘justification for the charges that are being made to me’.
But she did continue. Between that point and the end of the year there were three costly ‘commission and diligence’ hearings, including two in court and one procedural, which happened after Christmas.
Those hearings are estimated to have cost the taxpayer around £50,000 each, while Mr Salmond also ran up expenses he was later able to claim back from the Government.
It was only in January 2019 that the Government conceded the case.
Previously, Deputy First Minister John Swinney had refused to publish the Government’s legal advice.
He relented only when faced with losing a vote of no confidence at Holyrood. Even then, some of the most damning evidence – including Mr Dunlop’s assessment on December 17 – was not disclosed until last Friday, after Ms Sturgeon’s appearance in front of the committee.
In releasing the documents, Mr Swinney said: ‘I am completely clear that these documents, taken in their entirety, utterly disprove the conspiracy theory that the Scottish Government delayed the conceding of the judicial review or ignored advice from counsel.’ That has enraged allies
‘She must resign or we will seek to force her out’
of Mr Salmond. One source close to the former First Minister said: ‘Faced with the most damning display of advice in Scottish legal history, Deputy First Minister John Swinney maintained that this somehow proves his case.
‘It’s a case of “Comical Swinney” failing to realise that the entire edifices are crumbling as he maintains everything is just fine.
‘There have never been documents like this evidence that anyone can remember. What they show is deliberate deception.’
Both the harassment committee and James Hamilton, QC, the Government’s adviser on the
Ministerial Code, are due to produce their reports soon.
Despite Mr Dunlop advising he was ‘firmly of the view that at least one of the challenges mounted by the petitioner will be successful’ on December 17, 2018, the Scottish Government insisted yesterday that it did not know the case would definitely fail until days later.
A spokesman said: ‘Ministers were first advised the case was unstateable following the commission [and diligence] hearing of December 19 to 21. Any suggestion they had been advised of this before that date is factually inaccurate.’
If Mr Hamilton finds Ms Sturgeon has breached the Ministerial Code, she would be expected to resign as First Minister – but in recent days she has refused to say whether she would do so.
However, in her own foreword to the Ministerial Code, she promised to abide by its guidelines.
In it, Ms Sturgeon describes the code as ‘guidelines for living up to the seven principles of public life – selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership’.
She also wrote: ‘All Scottish Ministers, including myself, are bound by its terms.
‘I will lead by example in following the letter and spirit of this Code, and I expect that ministers and civil servants will do likewise.’
If the First Minister is found to have breached the Ministerial Code but does not resign, she could face a vote of no confidence.
The Scottish Tories sought to table votes of no confidence in both her and her Deputy First Minister, Mr Swinney, last week.
‘Comical Swinney failing to see edifices crumbling’