1 March 2021 | UK NEWS
A motion of no confidence the Deputy First Minister is set to be put forward in the Scottish Parliament by the Scottish Conservatives.
They are preparing to begin no-confidence proceedings against John Swinney, following his failure to produce the SNP’s legal advice in the debacle ensuing from the harassment probe into former First Minister Alex Salmond.
MSPs have voted on two occasions to force the Scottish Government to release this advice, but the ruling SNP has refused to release the advice on the grounds that legal advice should remain confidential.
Mr Swinney has previously said that it was an “important and well-established legal principle” that a government should not have to release “confidential communications with lawyers”, although it has done so in the past in judge-led inquiries.
Last year, he faced a no-confidence vote over his handling of the summer’s school exams, but he survived it.
The Scottish Conservatives have already received the backing of the Scottish Liberal Democrats to support a motion of no confidence.
The proceedings will begin tomorrow, should the Scottish Government fail to publish its legal advice by the end of today.
The Scottish Government was humiliatingly forced to pay Alex Salmond’s legal costs, following a botched review into how allegations of sexual harassment against him were handled. The Government paid £500,000 to Mr Salmond after it admitted to acting unlawfully by appointing an investigating officer with prior involvement in the case.
Mr Salmond was later acquitted of all 13 charges levelled against him after his High Court trial concluded last year.
Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross 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.”
Liberal Democrat MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton 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.”
A spokesman for recently appointed Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said: “Anas is speaking to colleagues ahead of his first week as leader.
“But what is clear is that the Committee must be able to scrutinise any evidence and Parliament has voted to publish the legal advice – so ministers should end this democratic outrage and hand over the documents.”
The Scottish Greens have not yet reached a decision as to whether to support the no-confidence motion, preferring to wait and see it first.
