DEPUTY First Minister John Swinney’s position may be in doubt after the three leading Unionist opposition parties all said they would vote for a motion of no confidence against him.

The Scottish Tories will this week lodge a motion of no confidence in Swinney over the publication of legal advice relating to the half a million pounds of public money paid out to former First Minister Alex Salmond, the party has announced.

On two occasions, MSPs have voted to compel the Scottish Government to produce advice taken as part of the legal challenge brought by Salmond over its harassment complaints procedure, but ministers have so far not handed the advice over.

The Scottish Government went on to concede the judicial review into the investigation of Salmond, which Judge Lord Pentland said was “tainted with apparent bias”.

The Government says it has not released the documents as it is wary of “creating a general waiver of legal privilege that could limit the ability of future Scottish Governments to request and receive candid legal advice”.

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In December, in a letter to Linda Fabiani, the convener of the committee looking into the handling of complaints against Salmond, Swinney said he was keen to find a “practical way” that the advice could be handed over to the committee, but no such arrangement has been put in place.

Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross said the motion was to give the Scottish Government “one last chance” to release the advice, and they would “gladly” rescind it should the advice be released.

He said: “Twice, opposition parties united to call for the legal advice to be released. The cross-party Holyrood committee have pleaded with the Government to produce it.

“The Government said they would listen but they clearly have not. The legal advice remains hidden.

“This evidence is crucial to uncovering the specific mistakes that lost more than £500,000 of taxpayers’ money and let the women at the heart of this investigation down.

“We urge other opposition parties to support this move. It is not about politics, it’s about getting to the truth of what happened. Without the evidence, that will not happen.”

Willie Rennie's Scottish LibDems have already said they will support the motion.

MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton, a member of the Salmond inquiry, said: “There is a simple way for John Swinney to avoid another no-confidence vote and that is to release the legal advice as parliament has twice made very clear it expects him to do.

“The Scottish Government have gone out of their way to obstruct the investigation into their handling of some very serious allegations.

“This displays contempt for our parliament and a casual disregard for all those who have raised concerns or are considering whether to do so in the future.”

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Speaking on the BBC this morning, Anas Sarwar said his Scottish Labour party would be faced with “no choice” but to support the motion.

Sarwar said: “John Swinney has to give the advice and if he doesn’t, then we will have no choice but to support the no confidence vote. Twice Parliament has voted by a clear majority for the legal advice to be provided to the committee and John Swinney has failed to do it.

“If he doesn’t do it, then it’s a deliberate obstruction of the work of the committee by the Scottish Government, following on from what looks like obstruction in previous weeks as well, which is just not acceptable.”

If the motion goes to a vote, it would be the second time in less than a year that Swinney would face such a debate on his position.

In August the Deputy First Minister, who also holds the education portfolio, came under heavy criticism from opposition parties over a scandal that developed around the qualifications process put in place as a result of Covid-19.

Under the new system, the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA), would moderate teacher-estimated grades, a process that saw more than 124,000 marks downgraded and disproportionately affected those from more impoverished areas.

Swinney survived that vote thanks to the backing of the Scottish Greens, after the SNP agreed to a complete U-turn on all the exam results.

It is understood that the Greens will wait to see what is said in the newest motion before making a decision on their vote.

The SNP’s 61 MSPs, combined with the Green’s five, would give a total of 66, enough to ensure a majority in the Parliament with 129 members.

The LibDems have five MSPs, Labour 23, and the Tories 30.

If the motion were to pass, there is no statutory obligation on Swinney to resign. However, the opposition parties would expect him to step down.

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A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The Government has provided the committee with detailed evidence on its legal position at all the key points of the Judicial Review including the Open Record of the pleadings and over two-and-a-half hours of oral evidence by the Lord Advocate.

“This is in addition to the unprecedented step the Scottish Government took in giving the committee access to a detailed summary of the legal advice on a confidential basis.

“If there is a need for further information, the Scottish Government stands ready to discuss that with the committee.

“We are conscious that we must enable the committee to fulfil its remit without creating a general waiver of legal privilege that could limit the ability of future Scottish Governments to request and receive candid legal advice in future litigation.”