JOANNA Cherry has called for the Crown Office to release evidence which Alex Salmond says shows there was a conspiracy against him by senior allies of Nicola Sturgeon.
The SNP MP and QC made the plea as the former First Minister appears today before MSPs probing the Scottish Government unlawful handling of complaints against him.
“In relation to the allegations of a ‘conspiracy’, Mr Salmond says that the Crown hold the “most obvious and compelling evidence of such conduct” but they are refusing to release it. We should not assume he has made these allegations lightly,” Cherry writes in The National today.
“He is prepared to repeat them on oath. Moreover, the chair of the committee, Linda Fabiani, an SNP MSP, has expressed frustration and the committee is now going to try to use its statutory powers to force the Crown to release this information. They are right to do so. It is in the public interest that the committee should be able to establish whether these very serious allegations are true.”
Nicola Sturgeon has denied any plot by her allies against her predecessor and will give evidence to MSPs next week.
READ MORE: Why it’s vital MSPs’ committee sees ALL relevant evidence in Alex Salmond inquiry
Cherry also hit out at Holyrood for redacting parts of Salmond’s written submission after it had been published and widely circulated. The redactions prompted claims political pressure had been applied to the Crown Office and called into question whether the Lord Advocate, who is head of the prosecution service, should also be a member of the Government.
Cherry said the case showed why the roles should be separate. “I believe it is time that Scotland considered moving to the same system as in England and Wales where a civil servant is employed as Director of Public Prosecutions quite separately from the political appointment of a Government law officer.”
The Edinburgh MP, who successfully led a legal challenge to Boris Johnson’s attempt to suspend Parliament during the Brexit process, spoke out days after Liam Fox said the situation was threatening to “bring politics in the UK into international disrepute”.
Cherry said while it was “hard not to laugh” at Fox’s point, given his Government’s unlawful bid to prorogue Parliament – conceded he had point. “The events of the last week have not been good for the reputation of Scottish politics or our devolved Parliament,” she said.
“The hokey-cokey that has played out in relation to redactions to Alex Salmond’s written evidence has not only been farcical, it has also raised very real concerns about the separation of powers in our democracy...”
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