HOLYROOD’S corporate body has overruled the harassment inquiry and said that “on balance” it is “possible to publish” Alex Salmond’s dossier accusing Nicola Sturgeon of breaking the ministerial code.

The decision now paves the way for the former First Minister to appear before MSPs next Wednesday.

The SNP were furious. They said the ruling risked sending out a message “that women should not dare seek to hold powerful men to account if they believe they have been mistreated.”

Parliament’s lawyers had previously advised the harassment committee against sharing the document - even though much of it is already in the public domain - over concerns it could lead to the women involved in Salmond’s criminal trial being named, breaching a contempt of court order.

Last week, the Spectator magazine took legal action in a bid to have that order amended.

In a 10-page decision, released on Tuesday, Lady Dorrian agreed that “the addition of a few words to the order” could help prevent any misinterpretation.

Following the judgment, Salmond’s legal team handed the committee a “recast” version of the submission, and said the ruling meant there was now “no impediment to publication”,

However, on Wednesday, five of the inquiry’s nine members - the four SNP MSPs and the independent Andy Wightman - voted to withhold publication, saying the tweaked order had “no impact on its previous decision and understanding of its legal obligations and its decision on the publication of the submission from the Former First Minister on the ministerial code.”

They then voted to pass the final decision on to the six MSPs who sit on the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (SPCB).

On Thursday afternoon, Ken Macintosh, the Scottish Parliament’s Presiding Officer, wrote to committee convenor Linda Fabiani to say the SPCB had “collectively agreed that on balance it is possible to publish the submission by Alex Salmond on the ministerial code.”

He added: “The Corporate Body has considered the key elements of the matter you placed before it, but is mindful that this decision in principle to publish must now be followed by the processing of the submission in line with the Committee’s evidence handling statement.”

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Wightman, who sits on both the committee and the SPCB, did not take part in the vote.

The committee will now begin processing Salmond’s revised submission and will publish it “early next week.”

They also confirmed they would be writing to Salmond “to invite him to give evidence to the Committee on Wednesday 24 February.”

The cross-party harassment committee is investigating the Scottish Government’s flawed probe into allegations of misconduct made against Salmond by two civil servants.

He had the exercise set aside in January 2019, with a judicial review declaring it “unlawful” and “tainted by bias”.

The Government’s botched handling ultimately cost the taxpayer half a million pounds.

At a later criminal case, the former SNP leader was cleared on 13 counts of sexual assault.

After the Scottish Government conceded the judicial review, Nicola Sturgeon referred herself to the independent advisers on the Ministerial Code over claims she had broken strict rules when meeting with Salmond about the complaints.

James Hamilton, a former director of public prosecutions in Ireland, has been tasked with investigating the First Minister’s actions.

In his submission to Hamilton, Salmond said the First Minister had repeatedly broken the ministerial code and had misled MSPs about meetings between the two at Sturgeon’s home.

The SNP leader has always denied her predecessor’s claims.

SNP MSP George Adam hit out at the SPCB’s decision: “People across Scotland will be utterly bewildered that the corporate body of the national parliament has ignored clear legal advice and decided to publish information which it knows could jeopardise the court-ordered anonymity of complainants in a sexual offences case.

“The message it is in danger of sending is that women should not dare seek to hold powerful men to account if they believe they have been mistreated.

“We have to ask the question of the corporate body members – if it had been their wife, their mother, their daughter or their sister at the centre of this, would they have made the same decision?”

Murdo Fraser, the Scottish Tory spokesperson on the inquiry called it “the right decision”.
He added: “The public deserve to know how £500,000 of taxpayers’ money was lost and why women were so badly let down.

“We must hear Alex Salmond’s side of the story to uncover what really happened. This welcome decision makes that possible.”

Scottish Labour committee member Jackie Baillie also welcomed the SPCB’s action: “This decision is most welcome and should pave the way for Mr Salmond appearing before the Committee next week.

“From the very outset of this process I have been clear that I believe the Committee has the right to consider any evidence that may be relevant to its work, and I am glad that the Scottish Parliament’s Corporate Body has agreed.

“This Committee is duty bound to get to the bottom of this sorry affair that frittered away over £500,000 of public money and which let down the women involved so badly.”