Sunday's opinion page pieces concentrated on former First Minister Alex Salmond's explosive evidence to a Scottish Parliament inquiry in which he said he has "no doubt" Nicola Sturgeon breached the ministerial code. Here is The Herald’s pick of those editorials.

The Sunday Times

Political columnist Alex Massie said the First Minister would have to resign if it is concluded that she has knowingly misled parliament over the Salmond affair.

Mr Salmond gave an account to the committee of meetings he had with Ms Sturgeon that appeared to contradict her version of events.

Ms Sturgeon denies breaching the code, and has accused Mr Salmond of creating "wild" conspiracy theories that are untrue.

The government admitted it had acted unlawfully during its investigation into the initial complaints from two female civil servants after Mr Salmond launched a judicial review case, and had to pay his legal fees of more than £500,000.

Mr Salmond was arrested two weeks after the government admitted defeat in the civil case, and was later cleared of 13 charges of sexual assault against a total of nine women after a trial at the High Court last year.

Mr Massie wrote: "Tellingly, Salmond's evidence, delivered under oath, leaves little room to doubt that Sturgeon knew about, and was thus involved in, this process before she has said she was. Much then hinges on whether her misleading of parliament was inadvertent or deliberate.

"If the latter, resignation is the only honourable course; if the former then the first minister will merely be embarrassed and perhaps, just perhaps, a little mortified. I know which I think more likely and I also know which I think more likely to be the way in which this plays out. That will have consequences, too."

The Herald:

Sunday Mail

Its leader said that Nicola Sturgeon has a fight to stay in power, as a Survation poll found Yes is no longer in the lead after 22 consecutive surveys suggested leaving the UK had become the settled will of the Scottish people.

And it said the reason for the reversal in fortunes "could not be more obvious" - Sturgeon's bitter war with her predecessor Alex Salmond.

"A key driver of support for the nationalists has always been the perception that Westminster politics is irredeemably rotten," the papers said.

"If people feel the same way about Holyrood the nationalist movement will be in big trouble.

"Just a few months ago, Sturgeon's target was a majority win in the Scottish Parliament election in May in a bid to force IndyRef2.

"It is now a legitimate question to ask whether she will still be in office to fight that campaign, never mind deliver independence."

Mail on Sunday

Ruth Davidson said there was an "unexploded bomb" casually lobbed by Mr Salmond when he said that, under the powers of the Scotland Act, the committee could serve orders for evidence to be delivered.

Where they had run into hostility in the past, by attempting to compel those who didn't want to hand evidence over, he had a solution.

"The Government and the Crown Office have a number of documents the committee wants to see but the Government and Crown don't want them to see," the leader of the Conservatives in the Scottish Parliament said.

"His lawyers also have copies of these documents and would be delighted to hand them over if the committee would just invoke the powers to compel them to.

"He dangled a hook. The committee must surely bite? They need to see all the evidence."

She concluded: "This committee must conclude in a few weeks before the election but, instead of winding down, it must shift into a higher gear."