Labour and Lib Dems to back Tories in no-confidence vote in Swinney over Salmond legal advice

The Scottish government went on to concede the judicial review into the investigation of Salmond, which Judge Lord Pentland said Labour was “tainted with apparent bias”.

In a letter to Linda Fabiani, the convener of the committee looking into the handling of complaints against Salmond, in December, Swinney said he was keen to find a “practical way” that the advice could be handed over to the committee, but no such arrangement has been put in place.

Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross said the move was to give the Scottish government “one last chance” to release the advice, and they would “gladly” rescind it should the advice be released.

He said: “Twice, opposition parties united to call for the legal advice to be released. The cross-party Holyrood committee has pleaded with the government to produce it.

“The government said they would listen but they clearly have not. The legal advice remains hidden.

“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.”

The Scottish Lib Dems have already said they will support the motion, with MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton, a member of the Salmond inquiry, saying: “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.

“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.”

New Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said the party would have “no choice” but to support the no-confidence vote.

“John Swinney has to give the advice and if he doesn’t, then we will have no choice but to support the no-confidence vote,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“Because twice parliament has voted by a clear majority for the legal advice to be provided to the committee and John Swinney has failed to do it.

“He has now had the chance this week to do it.

“If he doesn’t do it, then it’s a deliberate obstruction of the work of the committee by the Scottish government, following on from what looks like obstruction in previous weeks as well, which is just not acceptable.”

If the motion goes to a vote, it would be the second time in less than a year that Swinney would face such a debate on his position.

A Scottish government spokeswoman said: “The government has provided the committee with detailed evidence on its legal position at all the key points of the Judicial Review including the Open Record of the pleadings and over two-and-a-half hours of oral evidence by the Lord Advocate.

“This is in addition to the unprecedented step the Scottish government took in giving the committee access to a detailed summary of the legal advice on a confidential basis.

“If there is a need to further information, the Scottish government stands ready to discuss that with the committee.

“We are conscious that we must enable the committee to fulfil its remit without creating a general waiver of legal privilege that could limit the ability of future Scottish governments to request and receive candid legal advice in future litigation.”