NICOLA Sturgeon has survived a vote of no confidence in Holyrood over her role in the Alex Salmond affair.

The First Minister accused the Scottish Conservatives, who tabled the motion, of a "desperate attempt" to claim her scalp. 

She said: "If you think you think you can bully me out of office, you are mistaken and you misjudge me. 

"If you want to remove me as First Minister, do it in an election."

The motion of no confidence was brought forward by the Tories after a Holyrood inquiry concluded Ms Sturgeon has misled parliament.

MSPs on the cross-party investigation ruled Ms Sturgeon gave "an inaccurate account" of what happened at a meeting with Mr Salmond in April 2018.

The findings are separate from those of Irish lawyer James Hamilton, who reported on Monday that there had been no breach of the ministerial code by the First Minister over her role in the saga.

The motion of no confidence was defeated by 65 votes to 31, with 27 abstentions.

Speaking in Holyrood, Scottish Tory Holyrood leader Ruth Davidson said: "No First Minister who truly wanted to live up to the ideals of this Parliament should feel able to continue in post after having been judged guilty of misleading it.

"How can Parliament have confidence in the words of a First Minister when those words have been found to be false?

"The honourable thing would be to resign. Whether the First Minister has that sense of honour is now between her and her conscience."

But Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar criticised both the Scottish Government and the Tories. 

He said: "On one side, a litany of failings from a government that let down two women.

"On the other side, an opposition guilty of playing grubby party politics on an issue as serious as sexual harassment.

"This is a day of shame for our Parliament.

"Scotland deserves a better Government. And it deserves a better opposition."

The Tory motion read: "That the Parliament has no confidence in the First Minister, in light of confirmation that the Scottish Government ignored legal advice on its prospects of success in Alex Salmond’s judicial review case, and multiple credible witnesses indicating that the First Minister misled the Parliament."