The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Probe into Salmond complaints handling
Holyrood: Parliament to mount own investigation into fallout
The Scottish Parliament will mount its own investigation into the fallout from sexual misconduct allegations against former first minister Alex Salmond.
Holyrood is to set up a special committee which will look at the Scottish Government’s handling of the complaints – strenuously denied by Mr Salmond – as well as the former first minister’s dealings with his successor Nicola Sturgeon.
The move was unanimously agreed by all parties at a meeting of the Parliamentary Bureau yesterday.
A Scottish Parliament spokeswoman said: “Bureau members unanimously agreed to create a new committee of inquiry.
“Officials have been asked to prepare options on its remit and membership and these will be discussed at a future meeting.”
Scottish Conservative interim leader Jackson Carlaw said afterwards: “An investigation has been botched, two complainants have been let down and hundreds of thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money has been wasted.
“These are clearly matters for the Scottish Parliament to investigate and the inquiry must be able to examine what went wrong.”
Labour leader Richard Leonard added: “At all times it is essential to remember at the centre of all of this are two courageous women who put their faith in a system that has badly let them down and we must never lose sight of that by safeguarding the duty of care to them and their access to justice.”
Confirmation of the probe comes two days after Ms Sturgeon confirmed she will refer herself to the panel of independent advisers to consider whether her actions breached the ministerial code of conduct.
She previously told MSPs she only became aware of the allegations – which date back to Mr Salmond’s time as first minister – when the pair met for talks at her Glasgow home on April 2 last year. A key aide to the former first minister has said Ms Sturgeon’s chief of staff Liz Lloyd “suspected” a complaint had been made the previous month.
A spokesman for Ms Sturgeon said there was “quite clearly” a “vendetta” against Ms Lloyd.
The spokesman added: “We’re dealing with something that is the subject of an ongoing police investigation.
“We’re not going to be saying or doing anything that could be seen jeopardise or prejudice that in any way either of those processes.”