Swinney backs Constance amid threat of no confidence vote in grooming gangs row

John Swinney is facing calls to sack Justice Secretary Angela Constance, with Conservatives vowing to bring a vote of no confidence against her amid claims she “brazenly misrepresented” a leading child abuse expert.

Labour said it as also submitted a motion of no confidence in Ms Constance in the wake of comments she made about Professor Alexis Jay.

The First Minister however backed his Justice Secretary, and when asked by journalists if he has full confidence in her, he said: “Yes.”

During First Minister’s Questions on Thursday, Tory leader Russell Findlay insisted the Justice Secretary had broken the ministerial code.

He told the First Minister: “If John Swinney won’t sack the Justice Secretary, we will give Parliament the chance to have its say with a vote of no confidence.”

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar accused the First Minister of “defending the indefensible” as he too urged him to sack his “untrustworthy and incompetent” Justice Secretary.

Mr Sarwar told MSPs: “This morning I have lodged a motion of no confidence in Justice Secretary Angela Constance.

“It is clear that she misrepresented Professor Alexis Jay on an issue as serious as grooming gangs and misled this Parliament.

“She has had repeated opportunities to apologise and correct the record, but has failed to do so.

“It is now clear that she cannot stay in her position. She must resign, or John Swinney must sack her.”

When she rejected calls for an inquiry into grooming gangs in September, Ms Constance told MSPs Prof Jay agreed with her that such a probe was not needed.

But emails made public by the Scottish Government on Wednesday revealed Prof Jay – who led the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation in Rotherham in 2014 – later contacted Ms Constance to say she would “appreciate” her position “being clarified”.

Prof Jay added that her comments quoted by Ms Constance in Holyrood had “nothing to do” with the situation in Scotland.

Mr Findlay accused Ms Constance of having “twisted a statement about England to deny victims an inquiry here in Scotland”.

He said: “The Justice Secretary brazenly misrepresented a leading child abuse expert in order to block a grooming gang inquiry in Scotland.

“The Justice Secretary misrepresented an expert, then denied doing so when asked by journalists.”

He said Ms Constance has failed to correct Holyrood’s official record, with the Tory adding she has “not even apologised”.

Pressing the First Minister on the issue, the Conservative leader said: “Why isn’t it obvious to John Swinney that she has broken the ministerial code?”

Mr Swinney said the Justice Secretary “was making a general comment” on the situation when MSPs debated the Victims, Witnesses and Justice Reform Bill.

Ms Constance’s remarks were a “reflection of the general comments that were being made on the issues at that time”, he added.

The SNP leader went on to state the Government is “taking forward the essential work which is necessary to make a judgment about whether a separate grooming gangs inquiry is required”.

He said this is needed as “the view that has been expressed to us is that the evidence base is not sufficient to take such a decision at this time”.

He also said the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry, which the Government established in 2015 to examine abuse in care settings, could also consider issues linked to grooming.

The First Minister said: “The Government has established already a statutory public inquiry that has the ability to examine issues in relation to grooming gangs.”

He stressed the “Government has to take care to make sure we properly respect the independent inquiry we have established by statute, which has the power to look at many of these issues”.

The Scottish Liberal Democrats later made clear they would vote against Ms Constance if a no confidence debate is held.

Party leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: “We don’t have confidence in Angela Constance to continue as Justice Secretary.

“Sometimes in politics people get things wrong, but the decent thing to do is be upfront when that happens.

“After misrepresenting a respected expert, Angela Constance should have apologised to Professor Alexis Jay and been straight with Parliament. She didn’t, so this is a mess of her own creation.”