THE SCOTTISH Government has been accused of “throwing our entire parliamentary system into disrepute” after refusing to hand over legal advice its received for the botched review into allegations against Alex Salmond.
MSPs on a Holyrood committee investigating the Scottish Government’s handling of the botched public inquriy into sexual harassment complaints against the former first minister had demanded that key legal documents were handed over by today.
The Scottish Government has repeatedly refused to reveal the guidance it received about the legal challenge over the botched investigation of the former first minister.
In a parliamentary debate last week, MSPs called for the Scottish Government to “publish all the legal advice it received”.
But Deputy First Minister John Swinney has now written to the committee, indicating the documents will not be made public at this time.
In his letter, Mr Swinney said legal professional privilege (LLP) would have to be waived. If ministers are to do so and not break the ministerial code, they “must obtain the prior consent of law officers that consent will be given only if there are ‘compelling reasons’.”
Mr Swinney added that he is unable to “give a specific timescale when an outcome will be confirmed”.
He added: “I should emphasise that, even if a decision was taken to waive LPP on the legal advice relating to the judicial review, further work would be required to implement that waiver.
“Documents already provided to the committee, and those prepared for disclosure in the near future, which contain redactions because of LPP would need to be reviewed to remove the LPP redactions and add any redactions needed to protect the identities of the complainers or to comply with data protection law.
“This would need to be factored in to the time it would take to share relevant documents with the committee if LPP was waived.”
Opposition MSPs who sit on the committee have criticised the letter.
Scottish Conservative spokesman on the Salmond inquiry, Murdo Fraser, said: “The SNP are taking something that was already a scandal – losing £500,000 of taxpayers’ money – and they’re now throwing our entire parliamentary system into disrepute.
“They are defying the will of the Scottish Parliament and ignoring a cross-party committee of MSPs headed by an SNP convener.
“For 18 months, they have deliberately blocked the committee’s work and dragged their feet handing over scraps of information.
“Hiding evidence is the definition of a cover up and at this point, how can the government claim this is anything else?”
Scottish Labour deputy leader and committee member, Jackie Baillie, said the refusal was “extraordinary”.
She added: “By failing to hand over the legal advice today the Deputy First Minister has shown utter contempt for the committee and the wishes of the Scottish Parliament.
“This is no longer mere obstruction. This is a democratic outrage. The committee is due to hear evidence from the Lord Advocate and the Permanent Secretary on Tuesday and will do so with one hand tied behind its back.
“The lengths to which the Scottish Government is willing to go to hide essential information from the Committee and protect its reputation are clear. The committee must show the same determination in uncovering the truth behind this sordid episode.”
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