STURGEON DECLARES WAR ON INQUIRY
»»SNP leader says committee »»Outgunned Nats accuse decision had ‘political motives’ rivals of ignoring evidence
NICOLA Sturgeon has declared war on the Holyrood Inquiry after it ruled she misled Parliament over the Alex Salmond debacle.
The committee challenged claims the First Minister had no knowledge of concerns about Salmond’s behaviour before November 2017.
But a spokesperson for Sturgeon said: “The committee appears to have resorted to baseless assertion, supposition and smear – that is not how serious parliamentary committees are supposed to work, and in behaving this way they are simply exposing their base political motives.”
The criticism comes days before Sturgeon is likely to face an attempt to oust her from the job.
A Holyrood committee is investigating the SNP Government’s mishandling of sexual misconduct complaints against Salmond when he was First Minister.
Salmond pursued a judicial review and it was agreed the Government probe, which ended his friendship with Sturgeon, had been unlawful.
The inquiry will publish its report on Tuesday, but damaging findings were leaked this week.
A central concern was what was discussed between Salmond and Sturgeon at a summit during the live Government investigation in 2018.
Salmond and his lawyer Duncan Hamilton claimed she had offered to intervene, something she denied. By a 5-4 majority, the committee ruled against Sturgeon and found “she did in fact leave Mr Salmond with the impression that she would, if necessary, intervene”.
It described her written evidence as “an inaccurate account” and accused her of misleading the committee – a “potential breach of the Ministerial Code”.
The committee also cast doubt on another part of Sturgeon’s evidence.
It stated: “The committee finds it hard to believe that the First Minister had no knowledge of any concerns of inappropriate behaviour on the part of Mr Salmond prior to November 2017.
“If she did have such knowledge, then she should have acted upon it. If she did have such knowledge, then she has misled the committee.”
Sturgeon will face the verdict of a second investigation next week when a report by Irish lawyer James Hamilton is published. He is looking into whether she breached the ministerial code.
The Tories have called for her to quit and warned they will table a motion of no confidence if she does not.
However, a spokesperson for the First Minister launched a blistering attack on the committee, saying: “The latest leak from the committee, suggesting they find it ‘hard to believe’ that the First Minister did not previously know about inappropriate behaviour on the part of Alex Salmond is not supported by a single shred of evidence.
“Sadly, she is not the first woman let down by a man she once trusted to face that charge, and regrettably she is unlikely to be the last.
“And on the suggestion that the First Minister was not clear to Mr Salmond that she would not intervene on his behalf, the committee appear to have deliberately ignored and suppressed evidence submitted to them which corroborates the First Minister’s evidence on that issue.
“And that, in fact, she did not intervene on behalf of a then friend and colleague to help cover up sexual harassment allegations, appears irrelevant to them.
“It was clear from the actions of the Tories several weeks ago, when they announced plans for a motion of no confidence before they had even heard a word of evidence from the First Minister, that for them this committee was never a serious exercise in learning lessons on behalf of women who bring complaints of sexual harassment – it was only ever about politics.”
For a no-confidence motion to succeed the Scottish Greens would likely have to back the Tory plan in parliament.
But Patrick Harvie, co-convener of the Greens, yesterday signalled support for Sturgeon. He said: “I’ve never seen a committee process more compromised by leaks, MSPs pre-judging the evidence, and party politics over-riding the public interest.
“What should have been an examination of how women were failed and how we could prevent that from happening again has turned into a complete farce.
“There were serious questions that needed to be answered by this committee but it’s clear that a number of committee members have no interest in establishing the facts or seeking to create a supportive environment for women to bring forward complaints.
“Instead they have bought into Alex Salmond’s conspiracy hook, line and sinker in the hope of securing a political scalp.”
SNP MSPs on the committee also released a statement criticising their opposition colleagues.
It said: “This committee was meant to carry out a dispassionate search for the truth.
“But, at the very last minute, without full consideration of the evidence, the opposition railroaded through their prejudged assertions based purely on political considerations.”
They added: “Without a shred of evidence to the contrary, the opposition simply used their majority on the committee to insert 11th-hour predetermined political assertions that have no basis in fact. That is simply disgraceful and wrong.”