LABOUR have called for Justice Secretary Michael Matheson to resign after he was accused of misleading Parliament by the disgruntled ex-chief of the Scottish Police Authority (SPA).
Speaking to Holyrood’s Audit Committee, Andrew Flanagan, a former chairman of the SPA disputed Matheson’s statement to MSPs earlier this month.
Last November, under Flanagan’s leadership, the SPA voted to allow belgeaured Chief Constable Phil Gormley to come back to work, despite allegations of bullying and an investigation by the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (Pirc).
Two weeks ago Matheson told MSPs he’d only found out about the SPA decision two days after it had been agreed and less than 24 hours before Gormley was due to start.
He then spoke to Flanagan and asked if due process had been followed, and that if the SPA had checked with both the force leadership and Pirc as to whether this was appropriate.
That then led to the SPA telling Gormley they’d reversed their decision.
His lawyers have accused the Justice Secretary of acting unlawfully.
Yesterday, Flanagan said the minister had told him the SPA had made a “bad decision” and effectively made it clear that he did not want Gormley to return.
The former SPA chairman told the committee: “I met with [Matheson], I can’t remember the exact date, but it was in early November, and explained the circumstances and he told me he thought it was a bad decision. It was clear to me that he did not want the Chief Constable to return at that point.”
The issue dominated the first part of First Minister’s Questions, with Scottish Tory leader, Ruth Davidson attacking Nicola Sturgeon for defending her justice secretary.
Sturgeon replied: “The nub of this issue is this one, if Ruth Davidson is saying that the Justice Secretary should not have asked these questions, should not have acted in the way that he did, then by definition she must be saying that the Chief Constable should simply have been allowed to return to work no matter the fact that none of these basic steps had been followed.”
Labour’s shadow justice secretary, Daniel Johnson, said:“It is clear that Michael Matheson has behaved inappropriately”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel