JOHN Swinney is set to face a motion of no confidence by MSPs if he refuses to publish the legal advice the Scottish Government received over its doomed Alex Salmond judicial review by Tuesday.
The Scottish Conservatives will put forward an official motion of no confidence in the Deputy First Minister for failing to release the legal advice ministers received over the civil case that resulted in Alex Salmond receiving more than £500,000 of taxpayers' money.
A Holyrood inquiry is looking into how the Scottish Government botched its probe into sexual misconduct allegations made against Mr Salmond in 2018.
Mr Salmond had the exercise set aside in a judicial review after the Government conceded it was unlawful and “tainted by apparent bias”, an error that left taxpayers with a £512,000 bill for his legal costs.
READ MORE: Alex Salmond claims a 'calculated and deliberate' suppression of evidence
He was later cleared of multiple charges of sexual assault at the High Court in Edinburgh.
MSPS have voted twice in favour of having the legal advice it received into whether the case should be contested published – but ministers have so far, refused to do so, pointing to issues around legal privilege and warnings that doing so without the proper permission could breach the ministerial code.
But at his appearance in front of the committee on Friday, Mr Salmond claimed that if the legal advice informed the Government they were likely to lose the legal battle and “the case was continued in the knowledge of the First Minister against that legal advice, that would be a breach of the ministerial code”.
He also criticised the “extraordinary lengths that have been gone to, to prevent that advice from being shared”.
Mr Salmond added: “I think that most people, judging the current issue, would say that, after two parliamentary votes, that legal advice should and must be furnished. “It might be that something should be written into either the ministerial code or the standing orders of the Parliament to make that clear.
“I am just amazed that you would have to go that far to ensure that that is done. The normal assumption would be that ministers would follow a clearly expressed will of the Parliament when they are able to do so.”
The Scottish Government has previously released its legal advice to the infected blood inquiry, the Scottish child abuse inquiry and waived legal privilege for documents to be handed over to the trams inquiry.
The Scottish Tories believe the legal advice will show the Scottish Government was aware of the fatal flaw in their case, months before it conceded the judicial review to Mr Salmond. But as it stands, there is no evidence of this allegation.
The party has now set an ultimatum to publish the key documents, threatening the Deputy First Minister with a vote of no confidence.
Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross said: “We are giving the Scottish Government one last chance to be transparent and respect the will of the Scottish Parliament.
“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.”
Mr Ross added: “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.
“We will gladly withdraw this motion if the legal advice is released.”
The threat has been supported by the Scottish Liberal Democrats.
The party’s leader, Willie Rennie, said: “Liberal Democrats will support a motion of no confidence if John Swinney continues to flout the will of parliament.
"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.”
Mr Rennie added: "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."
In December, Mr Swinney told the convener of the committee, Linda Fabiani that he was “keen to consider with you how we might establish a practical way that enables the committee to have access to the information it seeks”.
READ MORE: Anas Sarwar: Nicola Sturgeon must quit if she broke ministerial code
But he told both her and Holyrood Presiding Officer Ken Macintosh that “ministers are anxious to avoid creating a precedent that will impact negatively on the future ability of Scottish Government administrations to seek and receive legal advice in confidence consistent with the long-standing principle of legal professional privilege”.
Earlier this month, in handing over a set of other files, Mr Swinney said the Scottish Government has made available “all documents relevant to the committee’s remit which have not previously been provided”, but the legal advice from the judicial review remains absent.
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