FMQs: Tories accused of playing political games over government's harassment scandal

During a rowdy Holyrood session, Ruth Davidson said it was already clear the SNP leader had broken the ministerial code. 

Sturgeon accused her of having pre-judged the ongoing inquiry.

The First Minister also told MSPs that there would be parliamentary time found to to debate both the committee report and the separate investigation into the ministerial code. 

She also appeared to give the clearest hint yet that she could stand down if that probe says she’s breached the strict rules governing the conduct of ministers.

Sturgeon also made clear the report would be published on the day it was received by the government. 

The clash followed Wednesday's mammoth eight-hour evidence session in front of the Holyrood harassment inquiry. 

The cross-party committee is investigating how the government botched a probe into accusations made against Alex Salmond. 

The former First Minister had the civil service report set aside at a judicial review, after it emerged that the investigating officer had previous substantial contact with the two women who made the allegations. 

In the Court of Session, Lord Pentland said it had been tainted by bias and ruled it unlawful. He awarded Salmond more than £500,000 in costs. 

Following the government’s defeat in January 2019, the First Minister referred herself to the independent panel on the ministerial code. Hamilton, a former Irish prosecutor, is currently investigating. 

One of the key questions during the committee session was over the government's legal advice. Papers published by ministers on Tuesday from the 2018 court battle show the counsel for the government warning of difficulties in September - though not enough to collapse the case.

However, as more information emerged, the QCs hired by ministers became more pessimistic about their chances. 

The advice was only partially published this week, despite MSPs twice voting for it to be released in full last November.

In Holyrood, Davidson told MSPs: “The First Minister characterised this as 'political games' but I have never forgotten the women who were failed. The thing the First Minister cannot get away from is that it was her government that failed them, and that questions still require to be answered.” 

Sturgeon replied: “I'm going to agree with something that Ruth Davidson said, I agree that she has not forgotten the women at the heart of this because I don't think Ruth Davidson ever remembered the women that are at the heart of this.”

She added: “Ruth Davidson says that she's not playing political games, I beg to differ, I think we saw the true colours of the Conservatives yesterday. 

“First of all, on Tuesday night, they said this, I don't know if Ruth Davidson approved this comment or not, but the Conservative said in terms that it did not matter what I said before a parliamentary committee yesterday, because they had already made up their minds. It's not about due process. It's political desperation on the part of the Conservatives. 

“I think we also had a glimpse of some of the values at play with the Conservatives yesterday because during that committee session one of the Tory members on it seemed to be suggesting that I should have intervened in the process to effectively sweep the allegations against Mr Salmond under the carpet, and then the other Conservative member asked me to apologise for the inappropriate behaviour of a man.

“So there we have the Tories demonstrating without any help from me that they are indeed playing political games.” 

Davidson hit back. She said the government held back crucial evidence for months from their own lawyers. 

She said: “We know that for weeks this government were definitively and beyond any doubt, ignoring legal advice, but the case only became unstateable so late because this government withheld crucial documents for so long. 

“They withheld documents from their own lawyers. They withheld them from the court, and they continue to withhold them from this parliament. 

“And what we've already seen shows that there's no argument that this government ignored legal advice stated, The argument is if it did so for three weeks, or for more than three months. 

“There's no argument if the First Minister was at fault for losing more than half a million pounds of taxpayers money. The argument is only about how much she's to blame for.

“And there's no argument if Nicola Sturgeon broke the ministerial code. The argument is only about how badly she broke it. We believe that the sanction is to go. Why doesn't she?”

Sturgeon replied: “Ruth Davidson has just shown her true colours and the Conservatives true colours, all over again, because of course she stands up here and say scrutiny and democracy and due process is really important, but just as on Tuesday night when the Conservatives prejudged my evidence to the parliamentary inquiry, she just prejudged the outcome of the independent inquiry into the ministerial code. 

“This is just about desperate political games for the Conservatives. I suspect the private polling is even more desperate than the public polling right now because remember, the people of Scotland have been voting no confidence in the Conservatives since the 1950s.”

In his first session of FMQs, the new Labour leader Anas Sarwar pointed to the words on the parliament’s mace: wisdom, compassion, justice and integrity.

He said: “The ministerial code exists to uphold standards in public life. It is there to protect the integrity of the Office of the First Minister of all Scottish ministers and the whole of the Scottish Government.

"In her foreword to the ministerial code, the First Minister says, 'I will lead by example in following the letter and spirit of this code and I expect all ministers and civil servants to do likewise.' 

“Wisdom, compassion, justice and integrity. In that light does the First Minister agree, removing party and personality that a minister, any minister who is found in breach of the ministerial code should resign?”

Sturgeon replied: “I will uphold my words in the foreword to the ministerial code, I will uphold the principles on that mace. But I will also demand the right to due process, which one party at least is not prepared to give me, so let's wait and see what the outcome of the inquiries are.

"They will be published and then we can debate in this chamber the outcome of that. I sat before that committee, I answered every question, and I will give the committee and the inquiry the opportunity now to do their work.”

The First Minister also confirmed that Hamilton’s report would be published on the day it was handed over to the government.