THE committee set up to investigate how complaints against former First Minister Alex Salmond were handled will be composed of nine MSPs from all five Holyrood parties, it has been revealed.
The committee is being established after the Court of Session ruled the way the allegations of were dealt with was “unlawful”. It is tasked with considering the actions of First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, Scottish Government officials and special advisers in dealing with the complaints against Salmond, which he strongly denied.
Four former SNP ministers will be put forward. Angela Constance, Alasdair Allan, Linda Fabiani, and Maureen Watt.
The other proposed members are Tory MSPs Margaret Mitchell and Donald Cameron, Labour’s Jackie Baillie, Green MSP Alison Johnstone and Scottish LibDem Alex Cole-Hamilton.
The committee’s remit and membership were discussed at a meeting of the Scottish Parliament Bureau – which determines daily business at Holyrood – and are set to be formally endorsed today.
Labour’s Neil Findlay criticised the plan to have an SNP MSP as convener. He said: “Labour argued, in the strongest possible terms, against the SNP taking the chair of this committee.”
Scottish LibDem leader Willie Rennie said: “Bearing in mind the concern there is about the SNP chairing the committee, it is now up to them to put forward a convener who can command the respect of Parliament.
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