JOHN Swinney has said the Scottish Government could still hand over legal advice about its botched investigation into harassment allegations made against Alex Salmond.
The former first minister took his former colleagues to court and had the results of the probe set aside at a judicial review.
Holyrood has now twice voted that the legal advice obtained by the Government to contest that action be released.
Reports yesterday suggest the deputy first minister could this week be set to tell MSPs that that won’t happen.
Refusing to hand over the advice will almost certainly lead to a vote of no confidence in Swinney.
The SNP doesn’t have a majority in Holyrood and there’s every chance Nicola Sturgeon’s number two could lose that vote.
Asked about releasing the advice, Swinney told Sophy Ridge on Sky News it was still being considered.
“There is a possibility that we might do that because parliament has asked us to do that and I’m now reflecting on that particular issue.
“At no stage have I closed the door on that issue, I’ve simply set out the fact that ordinarily, governments don’t publish their legal advice.”
Meanwhile, the Tories accused Nicola Sturgeon of lying about Salmond during an interview with the BBC’s Andrew Marr programme.
The host asked Sturgeon about when she first heard of allegations of harassment.
In a previous appearance on the show, she said it was April 2018 when she became aware of the complaints. However, earlier this year, the First Minister revealed there had been a meeting in March 2018 with Geoff Aberdein, Salmond’s former chief of staff, covering “allegations of a sexual nature”.
Speaking on the show yesterday, Sturgeon said people were “conflating two issues”.
She said: “I was speaking about the issues that had been raised under the Scottish Government processes – I’ve set out written evidence on that and I will give oral evidence to the inquiry.”
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