Nicola Sturgeon faces calls to resign over Alex Salmond revelations
Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is facing calls to resign amid claims she lied to Parliament over her involvement in the Alex Salmond saga.
The Scottish government has published emails showing it continued a doomed legal fight with Salmond despite lawyers saying it was likely to lose.
In a devastating blow before her appearance at a Holyrood inquiry today, further evidence from two special advisers has also called into question Sturgeon’s version of events surrounding the sexual misconduct complaints against Salmond.
Sturgeon told Parliament she only found out about the allegations concerning her predecessor when Salmond visited her home on 2 April 2018.
However, two additional witnesses today provided written submissions to the committee in which they confirmed that a meeting between Sturgeon and Geoff Aberdein, Salmond’s former chief of staff, on 29 March 2018, was “for the purpose of discussing the complaints”.
The Scottish Conservatives have subsequently said they will table a motion of no confidence in the First Minister for breaching the ministerial code by misleading parliament.
Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross said there was “no longer any doubt that Nicola Sturgeon lied to the Scottish Parliament and broke the ministerial code on numerous counts.”
“Credible witnesses have now backed up Alex Salmond’s claims and the legal advice shows the government knew months in advance that the judicial review was doomed but they still went on to waste more than £500,000 of taxpayers’ money,” he added.
“No First Minister can be allowed to mislead the Scottish people and continue in office, especially when they have tried to cover up the truth and abused the power of their office in the process. The weight of the evidence is overwhelming. Nicola Sturgeon must resign.”
Labour MSP Jackie Baillie said the fresh documents showed the government’s handling of the Salmond saga had been “indefensible”.
The Liberal Democrats said the new documents “look very serious” for the first minister, but added: “She deserves her day to respond to these allegations before we decide what to do next.”
An inquiry into the debacle was launched when Salmond, who served as First Minister of Scotland from 2007 to 2014, was acquitted of sexual assault charges at the High Court last year.
A spokesperson for Sturgeon said she will address the issues “and much more besides” at the Holyrood Committee on the Scottish government’s Handling of Harassment Complaints tomorrow morning.