THE SNP is rotten at the core and “poisoning Scotland’s democratic institutions”, Labour has claimed, in a fiery First Minister’s Questions dominated by the Alex Salmond affair.

Rejecting the charge, an angry Nicola Sturgeon accused interim Labour leader Jackie Baillie of being Mr Salmond's "chief spokesperson" by spreading such misinformation.

The First Minister was also forced to deny there had been a “cover-up” of Mr Salmond’s evidence to an inquiry, after a department led by one of her cabinet members had it censored.

The sections deleted by the parliament after advice from the Crown Office related directly to whether Ms Sturgeon had lied to MSPs.

In one deleted sections, Mr Salmond said Ms Sturgeon gave a false account of a meeting the pair had in April 2018, saying it was “untrue” and a breach of the ministerial code.

Ms Sturgeon warned MSPs not to but into a “dangerous and deluded conspiracy theory” put about by her predecessor, saying the reputation of Scotland’s justice system must not be sacrificed “on the altar of the ego of one man”.

The Tories accused of her using the soundbite as a “deflection” from her own troubles.

A cross-party Holyrood inquiry is looking at how the Scottish Government bungled a probe into sexual misconduct claims made against Mr Salmond in 2018.

He had the exercise set aside in a judicial review, showing it was “tainted by apparent bias”, a Government flaw that left taxpayers with a £512,000 bill for his costs.

He was later charged with sexual assault but cleared of all counts at a High Court trial last March.

He has claimed the prosecution was driven by people close to Ms Sturgeon who resented his victory in the civil case and wanted to damage him and remove from public life, "even to the extent of having me imprisoned".

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In evidence published, then withdrawn and redacted by the parliament earlier this week, Mr Salmond claimed Ms Sturgeon misled parliament about a meeting the pair had on 2 April 2018 at her Glasgow home.

Ms Sturgeon told parliament she did not know what he wanted to discuss beforehand, and she had taken the meeting and two follow-ups in her capacity as SNP leader, and so no Government records were made of it.

She also said April 2, 2018 was the first time she learned of the complaints against Mr Salmond.

However Mr Salmond has claimed Ms Sturgeon knew full well the first meeting was to discuss the Government probe into the complaints, and set up the April 2 meeting on 29 March with his former chief of staff, Geoff Abderdein, in her Holyrood office.

Ms Sturgeon has claimed she "forgot" about the prior meeting with Mr Aberdein as it had been a busy day.

Ms Baillie told Ms Sturgeon: “This week, Scotland’s democractic institutions have been exposed in their inability to hold this Government to account.

“The Crown Office intervened with the parliament, resulting in evidence being removed, evidence that any one of us can currently access on reputable news websites.

“We have a Government that has refused to cooperate, denying the committee access to the legal evidence they obtained for the judicial review that cost the taxpayer £600,000.

“We have seen this week that there is something rotten at the core of the SNP and it is poisoning our democratic institutions.

“This isn’t just about Alex Salmond, this isn’t even just about the internal problems in the SNP, this is about the treatment of women in the future.

“So what is the First Minister going to do to make that right?”

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The remarks were meet with SNP jeers of "Outrageous!".

Ms Sturgeon replied: “What is poisoning our democratic institutions in my view are politicians standing up and hurling assertions and accusations with out a shred of evidence to back them up.

"I think that is something all of us need to seriously reflect on.”

Earlier, Holyrood Tory leader Ruth Davidson said the redacted parts of Mr Salmond's evidence were exactly those which exposed Ms Sturgeon the most.

Ms Davidson said: "She’s been desperate to shut down everything about the secret meeting in her office [in March 2018] because it wrecks her whole argument and confirms that she misled parliament. The truth is, she knew about those allegations before April 2018.

“Does the First Minister understand why to the public this looks like a cover-up, when the exact evidence that’s being redacted is the most damaging to her personally?”

Ms Sturgeon replied: “The problem with Ruth Davdison standing up her recounting all of this and suggesting it is some sort of cover-up is this. 

“Every single allegation and claim and assertion that she has just made there was included in the written evidence I submitted to the committee back in August last year.

“All of that, the meeting on 2 April, the meeting three days earlier on 29 March 2018… that’s not a cover-up, I put it in my written evidence and submitted it to the committee months ago and people can go on to the parliament website and look at that.

"So it’s not a cover-up.

“I expect to be fully questioned on all of these matters when I sit before this committee at long last on Wednesday next week.”

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Ms Sturgeon went on: "Scrutiny of me is important, it’s necessary, it’s entirely legitimate.

"What is not legitimate is to pursue a conspiracy theory, a scorched earth policy that threatens the reputation and the integrity of Scotland’s independent justice institutions just because you happen to dislike this Government, and to sacrifice all of that, if I may say so Presiding Officer, on the altar of the ego of one man."

Ms Davidson replied: “People can see your deflection for what it is First Minister, just answer the questions.

"This sorry affair is not just damaging the First Minister’s own reputation, it is damaging the institutions that it is her responsibility to uphold.”

Ms Sturgeon said Ms Davidson was in no position to give lectures on democracy as she was planned to move to the House of Lords after May's election and pursue a political career without going before the voters.

Mr Salmond is due to give his oral evidence to the inquiry tomorrow, with Ms Sturgeon having her say next week.

Ms Davidson said afterwards: “The First Minister denied a cover-up, ignoring all the evidence that has been censored, submissions that have been redacted, requests for material which have been refused and dismissing the dozens of times her government has shut down scrutiny.

"For Nicola Sturgeon, this has become all about saving her own skin, no matter how much parliament’s standing is diminished and government’s reputation is tainted.”