Pressure grows on Matheson amid new ‘interference’ claim
FRESH allegations of interference with a Police Scotland watchdog have led to calls for Justice Secretary Michael Matheson to resign.
The Conservatives and Labour have said he should consider his position after the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (PIRC) accused a senior civil servant of trying to interfere with her independence.
It comes amid the continuing row over whether Mr Matheson made an unlawful intervention by urging the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) to reconsider its plan to allow Chief Constable Phil Gormley to return.
Emails published by the Sunday Post showed the PIRC Kate Frame felt remarks made by an official amounted to ‘interference with [her] independence’.
Scottish Tory justice spokesman Liam Kerr, said: ‘These new revelations show the SNP Government’s meddling in police matters is endemic, both at the SPA and now with the PIRC.
‘Michael Matheson’s department has torn up the rule book that is supposed to protect the independence of our police service. It’s a disgrace. The best course of action would be for him to resign.’
Mrs Frame had been preparing to publish a report on the police’s handling of complaints against senior officers towards the end of last year.
It came as Mr Gormley was – and remains – on special leave amid bullying allegations. He denies any wrongdoing.
Mrs Frame was contacted by Don McGillivray, deputy director of the Scottish Government’s police division, on November 30. He said Mr Gormley’s lawyers were ‘very active at the moment’ and questioned if publishing the report ‘could increase the risk to the whole process’.
Mrs Frame said she was ‘more than a little surprised’ by the comments, adding: ‘My perception of your remarks is of governmental interference with my independence.’
When it was published as planned in the final week of December, the PIRC report found the complaints handling procedures at the SPA were ‘neither effective nor efficient’.
Scottish Labour justice spokesman Daniel Johnson said: ‘The Justice Secretary has already misled parliament about his dealings with the SPA. Now we find his department has tried to interfere with a PIRC investigation as well.
‘It is hard to conceive how Mr Matheson can justify these actions. We will be demanding he comes to parliament and attempts to – and if he cannot, he must resign.’
Yesterday, a PIRC spokesman said: ‘The PIRC was committed to publishing her independent audit report by the end of 2017 and adhered to this schedule. This independence was emphasised to the Government in an email on December 23.
‘There have been no incidents of government interference and the release of the document went ahead within the planned timescale.’
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘PIRC is an independent body and has made clear there has been no interference in the publication of this report.’
A spokesman for Mr Gormley’s legal team said: ‘The revelation today about Scottish Government interference in the working of the PIRC underlines our belief the present police complaints and conduct system is not for fit purpose.’
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