Sturgeon cleared of breaching ministerial code but rebuked over handling of harassment complaints
Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has scored a major legal and political victory after she was cleared of breaching the mistrial code over the Alex Salmond affair.
An independent inquiry led by senior Irish lawyer, James Hamilton, had been forensically examining whether Sturgeon had misled the Scottish Parliament (popularly known as Holyrood) over what she knew and when about the entire saga.
Hamilton, who is a former head of the Republic of Ireland’s prosecution service, is currently the Scottish government’s independent advisor on the ministerial code.
The Scottish ministerial code sets out the standards expected of Scottish government ministers and demands the resignation of any minister who has been found to have deliberately misled Parliament.
In his report Hamilton stated that while Sturgeon had given an “incomplete narrative of events” to Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs), this was however a “genuine failure of recollection” as opposed to deliberate deception.
Separate case, different outcome
In a related but separate development, the First Minister has been chastised by a cross-party committee of MSPs over the Scottish government’s handling of sexual harassment complaints against Salmond.
The Committee on the Scottish Government Handling of Harassment Complaints has reported that women who made the allegations against the former First Minister were “badly let down”.
The committee found it was “misled” by Sturgeon, who succeeded Salmond as both Scotland’s First Minister and leader of the pro-independence Scottish National Party (SNP).
Political ramifications
The quick succession of legal victory followed by setback comes at arguably the most sensitive time in Scottish politics in living memory where Sturgeon and the SNP are locked in a stalemate with the ruling Tories in London over plans to hold a second Scottish independence referendum (popularly referred to as Indyref2) later this year.
True to form, the Scottish Tories have seized on the committee’s report to press ahead with their long-standing effort to stage a “no confidence” vote against Sturgeon in Holyrood.
The Tories plan to inflict as much damage on Sturgeon as possible ahead of the all-important Holyrood election scheduled for May 06.
An SNP victory at the election will significantly strengthen the party’s demand for Indyref2.
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