JUSTICE Secretary Angela Constance told an SNP presidential candidate that Police Scotland will not "thwart" independence at a conference event about policing.

Constance had been appearing alongside David Kennedy, the general secretary of the Scottish Police Federation, at a fringe event at the SNP conference when Graeme McCormick stood up to ask a question.

McCormick, who is one of two candidates on the ballot to become the SNP’s next president, raised concerns about the questions asked of Police Scotland’s new chief constable, Jo Farrell, before she was given the job.

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He said: “Police is a devolved issue, but it's also a constitutional issue, or it certainly was when I did constitutional law in 1973.

“With that in mind, I submitted a freedom of information inquiry to the Scottish Police Authority asking what questions were asked of the applicants for the chief constable's job, apart from obviously ones of national security.

“The reply I got was that they weren't prepared to let me know.”

He then asked Constance to say what questions had been asked of Farrell, saying it was “very important for us to know the attitude and approach of our chief constable to the matter of the constitution”.

Constance said: “I'm sorry. I don't know if I misunderstood the question. When you say constitution …”

McCormick then cut in: “Well, we are a nationalist party seeking to be independent, and we have got to have confidence that the civil security of our country is such that when we decide that we wish to be independent, that we are not in some way going to be impeded by the the civil authority, the civil police authority.”

Constance responded: “I just dispute that the Scottish Police Authority, or indeed anybody in Police Scotland, is going to thwart the work of the Scottish Government or indeed the democratic will of the people of Scotland if and when we choose a different constitutional future.

“Sorry if you think I’m being evasive, I suppose I just utterly dispute the premise of the question.”

Kennedy then said that Police Scotland would always operate independently regardless of who was in government, and said Farrell’s position on political issues was as such irrelevant.

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He added: “We only got two people that applied for the job anyway.”

McCormick then said he had only “raised the issue of the interpretation of constitutional law in Scotland”.

Asked if she wanted to respond, Constance said: “I just don’t think it’s relevant at all, with respect. It’s deeply unhelpful.”

After McCormick’s question, Constance and Kennedy were asked whether Police Scotland could follow forces south of the Border in allowing people to enter at a rank above constable.

Kennedy said he did not want to see such a system implemented in Scotland, as he believed officers should have to “walk the walk” before they entered managerial positions in the force.