Sturgeon squirms as MSPs turn up the heat
NICOLA Sturgeon faced a sustained grilling over the MP at the he heart of a property fraud probe, e, in one of her most difficult First st Minister’s Questions si nce ce becoming SNP leader.
She repeatedly dodged questions ns from the Scottish Conservative and nd Labour opposition about how her er party had not known about Edinburgh West MP Michelle Thomson’s n’s business dealings.
The First Minister hid behind an ongoing police inquiry when challenged on the moral question of whether vulnerable people had sold their homes at knock-down prices.
Both Miss Sturgeon and Deputy First Minister John Swinney looked uncomfortable when asked about these vulnerable families behind the allegations now surrounding Mrs Thomson.
Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale said: ‘We have vulnerable families losing out for the financial gain of others and vulnerable people being taken advantage of as their homes are snapped up at knock-down prices.
‘Does the First Minister agree that profiteering from vulnerable families is just plain wrong?
‘This is the First Minister who made Michelle Thomson her shadow business secretary.
‘The First Minister has spent two days running away from Michelle Thomson as fast as she can. Is it not the case that, for the past two years, Michelle Thomson has been at the heart of everything that the SNP stands for?’
In a sign of how damaging the Police Scotland probe into Mrs Thomson’s property deals has been for the SNP, Nationalist backbenchers groaned in unison when Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson continued with the onslaught.
She said: ‘We already know that the Crown Office and Police Scotland were asked whether they would investigate the case in July last year.
‘We know that the Law Society of Scotland raised it with the Crown Office in December.
‘Yet the First Minister is asking us to believe that nobody in the Scottish National Party – the party of government – from the constituency in Edinburgh West right up to the chief executive and the leader herself, knew anything about the case until they read about it in the paper almost two weeks ago.
‘Does the First Minister think that that sounds believable, or did somebody somewhere turn a blind eye?’
In reply, Miss Sturgeon insisted that the people of Scotland would believe her.
But Miss Davidson added: ‘The First Minister cannot have missed the sort of business that Michelle Thomson was involved in and which she boasted about in public view on her own website.
‘This morning, Michelle Thomson’s solicitor said that she wants to come back to frontline politics as quickly as possible.
‘On the basis of ethics and integrity alone, will the First Minister welcome Michelle Thomson back to her front bench?’
The First Minister left Mrs Thomson in no doubt that her career in the party is on the line with a chilling warning.
She said: ‘ There is no doubt whatsoever in my mind that if the allegations – again, I stress the word allegations – are proved to be correct, that will represent behavi our that I find completely unacceptable.
‘However, I am not going to judge the outcome when somebody is maintaining their innocence and an investigation has not yet been concluded.
‘It would be incredibly unfair and inappropriate for me to do that.
‘I put it to the chamber and to the public that it is unfair and unacceptable for any politician to ask me to do that. However, when we have all the facts and when the investigation is concluded, I will take whatever decisions and actions I deem necessary.
‘Those decisions will be driven by facts, not by insinuation and the attempts of opposition parties to stir up political trouble and difficulty.
‘That is the way that I will continue to proceed and I think that it is the appropriate thing to do.’
Mrs Thomson was one of the 56 MPs the SNP sent to Westminster in its General Election landslide in May – on a platform of standing up for the poorest in society.
She was also a l eading proindependence figure in the referendum campaign, through the group Business for Scotland.
She has said she is ready to help the police with their inquiries and has resigned the SNP whip while the investigation runs its course.