MICHAEL Gove has pointed the finger at Holyrood as he refused to back an inquiry into revelations about his government using emergency Covid funds to conduct polling on the Union.
The Cabinet Office minister, pressed again to launch an investigation, made the bizarre suggestion that he would not do so because the Scottish Parliament supposedly has a poor record in conducting its own inquiries.
The Downing Street chief also hit out at the SNP for suggesting that Westminster is a “uniquely toxic environment”.
It comes after it was revealed Gove instructed civil servants to commission polls on “attitudes to the UK Union” using an emergency contract given to a firm run by two of his associates.
Speaking on the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland (GMS) radio show, he was asked if he used emergency Covid cash to pay for polling on the Union. Gove replied : “No.”
It was put to the Tory minister that not everyone believes him, with SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford demanding a public inquiry.
“Well, Ian wants a public inquiry on almost everything,” Gove said. “Ian and his deputy Kirsten Oswald have called for two public inquiries and we’re only on the second day of the week.”
He rejected the “SNP narrative” that Westminster has “lost its moral compass” and pointed to controversies at Holyrood, including the Derek Mackay scandal and the Scottish Government’s handling of complaints made against Alex Salmond.
READ MORE: Michael Gove denies using Covid funds for polling on the Union
The Cabinet Office minister was then asked to reveal what the results of the Union polling were.
But he denied that any polling was even conducted. “We didn’t carry out – I didn’t carry out – any polling,” Gove said. “We were doing research on how we can get a public health message across in order to keep people safe.”
He was again pressed on why he refused to back a public inquiry into revelations that his department conducted polling on “attitudes to the UK Union”.
The Tory minister seemed to suggest that he would not launch one because Holyrood inquiries, in his opinion, had been handled poorly.
He told BBC GMS: “The Scottish Government publishes polling or conducts polling comparing the UK Government to the Scottish Government and [that] has a political purpose. That's fair enough, I'm not complaining, but that is something they do, that's not what we do.
“The second thing is, of course, Ian [Blackford] and others can call for inquiries. But, you know, we had the Holyrood inquiry into the Salmond affair – hardly a model of how a public inquiry should be conducted.”
It was put to Gove that that was "hardly an argument", prompting him to hint the matter could be examined as part of a wide-ranging investigation into the handling of the pandemic as a whole.
The Tory chief noted that his government has agreed with the devolved administrations to hold a “comprehensive public inquiry into all aspects of Covid”. He added: “Holding that one big comprehensive public inquiry, when we can look at all of these issues, I think is the right way.”
Again, he took aim at the SNP, urging people not to “fall” for their “narrative”.
“The SNP are trying to suggest that somehow there's a difference between Westminster and Holyrood – that Westminster is somehow this uniquely toxic political environment and Holyrood is a shining city on a hill.
“The truth is that there are flawed people in public life, there are mistakes made by administrations, it happens in both areas. But what we need to do is be honest about those mistakes and seek to learn from them, which to be fair, the Scottish Government has done since the Salmond inquiry.”
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