THE Scottish Government’s belated agreement to publish its legal advice on the Alex Salmond affair has been hit by a last-minute row over transparency.

The Holyrood inquiry into the affair said ministers must release at least “all external counsel advice and details such as minutes of all meetings involving counsel”.

It said that was “the minimum of what constitutes key legal advice” in the inquiry’s opinion.

The cross-party committee of MSPs said the Government needed to publish the advice on its own website “as a matter of urgency” when it hands it to the inquiry.

The inquiry also issued letters to Mr Salmond's lawyers and the Government asking for other documents, including a witness statement about one of Nicola Sturgeon's special advisers saying they will 'get' the former First Minister.

The Scottish Tories said they would force a vote of no confidence in Mr Swinney on Thursday unless he handed over all the inquiry demanded.

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The row followed Deputy First Minister John Swinney telling MSPs that the Government would hand over the advice later today.

However the parliament’s officials require time to process the information, meaning it might not be made public before Nicola Sturgeon gives her long-awaited evidence tomorrow.

Publication is required before MSPs can ask questions based on the material.

In a letter to Mr Swinney, inquiry convener Linda Fabiani said: “Given the incredibly tight timescales the Committee is subject to as a result of the late receipt of this advice and in the interests of transparency, the Committee requires the processing and publication of these documents to be completed by the Scottish Government as quickly as possible.

“The Committee requires as much evidence as possible to be put into the public domain and so redactions must be kept to an absolute minimum.”

She said a previous Government summary of its legal position was so general in its paraphrasing it got in the way of the inquiry’s work.

She said: “The Committee therefore requests that the legal advice provided is done so with legal professional privilege having been waived over its contents.

“The Committee requires the Scottish Government to respond, by return, on this matter.”

The inquiry is looking at how the Government bungled a probe into sexual misconduct allegations made against Mr Salmond in 2018.

The former First Minister had the exercise set aside in a a judicial review in January 2019, showing it was “tainted by apparent bias” and getting £512,000 in legal costs.

After winning the civil action, he was charged with sexual assault, leading to a trial last year in which he was acquitted on all counts.

The inquiry today sent a letter to Mr Salmond's lawyers askign for documents he referred to in his oral evidence last Friday. 

READ MORE: Prosecutors hand over messages at heart of 'Alex Salmond conspiracy '

This included a witness statement saying a special adviser told them in November 2018, while the judicial review was ongoing, that the Government knew it would lose the civil case but that they would "get him in the criminal case".

The inquiry also asked for the transcript of judicial review hearings known as Commission and Diligence which extracted key documents from the Government.

The inquiry also sent a second letter to Mr Swinney  based on Mr Salmond's oral evidence.

MSPs have asked for a copy of a draft letter Ms Sturgeon reportedly wrote to all former ministers about a new harassment policy, yet which was never shared with the inquiry.

The inquiry also asked for all records of Government discussions about sisting, or pausing, Mr Salmond's judicial review.

Mr Salmond claims a police investigation was whipped up against him to make sisting the judicial review simpler, thereby sparing the Government discomfort.

The Government previously said it could find no records that supported Mr Salmond's claim, but the inqurity said it was "not for the Government to assess the evidence and inform the committee of its conclusions", and demanded "all records" on the matter.

After months of refusing to hand over the legal advice on which the Government maintained its doomed defence of the action on the grounds of legal privilege, Mr Swinney finally agreed on Monday after opposition parties backed a planned no confidence vote in him if he didn’t.

Despite two votes by Holyrood to hand over the material in November, Scottish Ministers only asked their law officers for their consent to disclose material when Mr Swinney’s job was on the line.

Even then he offered only “key” legal advice, not all of it, leading to opposition complaints he was cherry picking the material to minimise Government discomfort.

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Tory MSP Murdo Fraser said: “John Swinney’s response to the Scottish Parliament’s requests for the legal advice have been a disgrace from start to finish.

“He is showing contempt for the inquiry committee and the entire Parliament.

“The Deputy First Minister grandstanded about finally providing hand-picked parts of the legal advice, overlooking that he only acted when his job was on the line.

“Whatever he provides may not even be published before the First Minister’s evidence session, allowing her to avoid questions on it and dodge scrutiny yet again.

“The Scottish Conservatives will hold a No Confidence vote in the Deputy First Minister this Thursday if he has not respected the will of Parliament by then.”