NICOLA Sturgeon is under pressure to reveal what she and Alex Salmond talked about in their five conversations last year.
Both Labour and the Tories say there are unanswered questions over the Government’s handling of the investigation into claims of sexual harassment by the former SNP leader.
Allegations against Salmond, which he denies, were made a year ago. The former First Minister took the Government to court, questioning the fairness of the procedure.
The Government conceded defeat on Tuesday, saying that it had breached its own guidelines by appointing an investigating officer who had “prior involvement” in the case. The case has no bearing on an ongoing separate police inquiry into the allegations.
In a letter to the First Minister, Labour MSP Pauline McNeill urged Sturgeon to explain why she discussed the investigation with Salmond and to make public any notes taken by any civil servants or other advisers present.
The Labour MSP also called for any details of meetings or conversations between Sturgeon’s advisers and Salmond.
Interim Scottish Tory leader Jackson Carlaw said given that the taxpayer is expected to have to pay up to £500,000 in legal costs, the public was “entitled to answers”.
“The questions facing the SNP government are mounting up,” he said. “Nicola Sturgeon claims she did not intervene at any stage. Yet now we learn she had no fewer than three meetings and two phone calls with Mr Salmond when he raised his concerns about the process with her. If she wanted to stay out of it, why did she agree to meet him?”
A Scottish Government spokesman said they would respond to McNeill in due course, but insisted the reasons for settling the case had been explained in court, and that any other “claims or conspiracy theories” were unfounded. The spokesman added: “As the First Minister told Parliament, she was clear to Mr Salmond that she had no role in the process and would not intervene.”
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