Did Sturgeon tell ‘multiple untruths’ in parliament?

NICOLA STURGEON is under mounting pressure amid claims she told ‘ multiple untruths’ over sexual harassment claims against Alex Salmond.

Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson called on Ms Sturgeon to come clean over what she had known about the allegations.

Scotland’s First Minister has been accused of misleading the Edinburgh parliament over when she learnt of the claims.

Mr Salmond, her predecessor, was cleared last year of 13 charges against nine women. He also won a j udicial review against Ms Sturgeon’s government, with a court ruling that its investigation into him had been ‘tainted by apparent bias’.

But last week, Mr Salmond accused Ms Sturgeon of giving ‘simply untrue’ evidence to a Holyrood inquiry over when she first knew of the allegations against him. He said that as a result, she had broken the Ministerial Code.

Ms Sturgeon has ‘ entirely rejected’ the accusation.

But Ms Davidson said yesterday Ms Sturgeon had questions to answer over her conduct and the decision to contest Mr Salmond’s judicial review which left the taxpayer picking up his £512,000 legal bill.

Ms Davidson said: ‘What Alex Salmond has said is that Nicola Sturgeon has misled parliament, which is a resigning offence.

‘And he says he can prove it because there were people in the meeting who will back up his evidence. We are in a situation where either the current First Minister has told multiple untruths to parliament, or her predecessor is lying to a parliament committee under oath.’

Ian Blackford, the SNP leader at Westminster, has conceded that if found guilty of breaching strict conduct rules, Ms Sturgeon would have to quit.

But he added: ‘I believe the First Minister has acted in an honourable way. She is someone I have every faith and trust in.’