Swinney dismisses call for inquiry amid ‘cover up’ claims over Sturgeon probe

John Swinney has rejected calls for a judge-led inquiry despite being accused of a “cover up” in a row over his involvement in a probe into whether Nicola Sturgeon breached the ministerial code when she was first minister.

Both the Conservatives and Labour challenged Mr Swinney amid concerns about his dealings with a Scottish Government civil servant who was seconded to help with James Hamilton’s inquiry.

The inquiry cleared then first minister Ms Sturgeon of breaching the code.

Mr Swinney, who set the remit for Mr Hamilton’s inquiry when he was deputy first minister in August 2020, is now facing questions over the actions of the seconded civil servant.

Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay said the official was “passing information directly to Mr Swinney”, adding: “She even drafted letters from Mr Swinney to Mr Hamilton – who she was working for.”

Mr Findlay branded the situation “hopelessly and fatally conflicted” as he claimed: “The First Minister’s fingerprints are all over this cover-up.”

He called on the SNP leader to “agree to a judge-led inquiry to uncover the true extent of his actions” – with the move backed by Scottish Labour deputy leader Dame Jackie Baillie.

She said: “The suggestion that the civil servant seconded to the James Hamilton inquiry provided information directly, or indirectly, to the Scottish Government raises huge questions about the independence of the process.

“Given the need for integrity and good governance, I echo the call for a judge-led inquiry.

“The First Minister should really agree, unless of course he has something to hide.”

However Mr Swinney insisted: “I have absolutely no intention of commissioning a judge-led inquiry into all of this business.”

He added that was “for the simple reason” that the Government had published “101 pages of legally-privileged information” that the Scottish Information Commissioner had demanded be put into the public domain.

The First Minister stressed to MSPs that the individual chosen to work with Mr Hamilton was a “non-political, career civil servant of impeccable record and repute”.

Mr Swinney hit back at his opponents, saying: “Questioning the independence and integrity of James Hamilton and of a civil servant who cannot publicly defend themselves is unwarranted, unfair and unsupported by the facts.”

He said Mr Hamilton was “in full control” of the inquiry process “as an independent commissioner”.

Mr Swinney added: “The first I knew of any of the contents of James Hamilton’s report was when he delivered his report to us on March 22, 2021.”

The row erupted after the publication on Saturday of emails and legal opinions relating to the Hamilton inquiry.

The Scottish Government had originally resisted a request from Scottish Information Commissioner David Hamilton for the documents to be released, with ministers going to court over the matter.

When the documents were released, the Information Commissioner said they showed “Scottish ministers were advised that prospects of winning this appeal were ‘not strong’ and indeed diminished as advice developed”.

However speaking in Holyrood on Tuesday, Mr Swinney said the legal advice had been “unambigous” and “supported challenging” the Information Commissioner on the release of the papers.

While the First Minister accepted the “legal advice on the prospects of the case did become less positive”, he said that even as late as May 2023 the advice to ministers was that there remained “reasonable arguments to make”.