THE Civil Service's high standards were compromised when the Treasury's chief mandarin "abandoned impartiality" and publicly intervened in the referendum campaign to speak out against a currency union between an independent Scotland and the remaining UK, the SNP has claimed.
In February last year, Sir Nicholas Macpherson, the Permanent Secretary at the Treasury, created headlines when he took the unusual step of publishing his advice on the SNP Government's preferred option of a currency union, saying in a memo to Chancellor George Osborne that he would "strongly advise against" it, warning currency unions were "fraught with difficulty".
At the time, John Swinney, the Deputy First Minister, accused Sir Nicholas of having "crossed the line" of Civil Service impartiality. But the Treasury insisted the Permanent Secretary's advice had been "completely impartial".
Yet earlier this week in a speech, the mandarin defended his decision, saying that in such an "extreme" case as last year's referendum, in which "people are seeking to destroy the fabric of the state" and to "impugn its territorial integrity", the normal rules of Civil Service impartiality did not apply.
Giving a lecture entitled "The Treasury and the Union," the department's top civil servant said "the strong recurring conclusion" of his team's studies was that independence would be against the interests of the Scottish people.
Sir Nicholas admitted an independent Scotland could be successful but argued there would be a price to be paid for it and he had a "duty" to point that out.
His remarks prompted an angry response from the SNP, which pointed out that the Civil Service Code of Conduct clearly stated that a civil servant must be impartial and not "act in a way that unjustifiably favours or discriminates against particular individuals or interests", or "act in a way that is determined by party political considerations" or allow "personal political views".
"These comments are astounding," declared Stewart Hosie, the Nationalist deputy leader.
"This is a very serious admission and it begs the question: when will this UK Government next abandon impartiality? We expect the highest standards from senior civil servants. With this admission, it is clear they have fallen short."
Mr Hosie revealed he had written to Sir Jeremy Heywood, the head of the Civil Service, demanding to know under what circumstances was it acceptable for the rules on impartiality to be suspended.
"The Civil Service code states that as a civil servant, you are 'expected to carry out your role with dedication and a commitment to the Civil Service and its core values: integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality,' which is 'acting solely according to the merits of the case and serving equally well governments of different political persuasions'."
The Dundee MP added: "At a time when the UK and Scottish Governments should be able to work in good faith on more powers, this raises serious questions about Scotland's ability to have any confidence in the role of the Treasury."
Meantime, in evidence to the Commons Treasury Committee on more powers for Holyrood, Sir Nicholas raised more eyebrows when he suggested Scotland could potentially be used as a "laboratory" for tax policy once additional fiscal powers were devolved.
Nationalist hackles were recently raised when historic UK Government documents revealed Margaret Thatcher's Government used Scots as guinea pigs for the poll tax despite denials at the time. The papers referred to the "Scottish experiment".
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