Sturgeon: Complaints against adviser entirely groundless

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has “rejected as entirely groundless” accusations a senior adviser breached the rules with comments made to journalists.

Scottish Conservative chief whip Alexander Burnett wrote to the First Minister on Wednesday, urging her to discuss the comments with Permanent Secretary John Paul Marks.

But the First Minister rejected the call within hours of it being made.

In a briefing with journalists following First Minister’s Questions last week, Stuart Nicolson – acting as a spokesman for Ms Sturgeon – said opposition parties were “behaving like Donald Trump” and “pretending they won an election they lost”.

When asked if opposition parties are denying the Scottish election result of last year by continuing to reject the idea of another referendum on Scottish independence, Mr Nicolson said: “Well, they appear to be.

“There’s a clear majority for a referendum, they seem to be in some way questioning or denying that.”

When asked what “concrete steps” have been taken to deny democracy, Mr Nicolson responded: “There is a clear denial of democracy at play.

“They’re throwing around the Trump jibes. I’m merely saying that the only people behaving like Donald Trump are the people who try and deny the reality of election results.

“They’re trying to deny the reality of an election result in a free and fair democracy.”

In his letter to the First Minister, Mr Burnett said Mr Nicolson had “made a series of unfounded political accusations that were clearly over the top, lacking in moderation, and out of step with the code of conduct for special advisers”.

He added the comments “appear to be in breach” of section 14 of the special advisers’ code of conduct.

Special advisers are political appointees given more freedom in political matters and are not bound by the same rules around impartiality and objectivity as civil servants.

The rules state: “Special advisers must not take public part in political controversy, through any form of statement whether in speeches or letters to the press, or in books, social media, articles or leaflets.

“They must observe discretion and express comment with moderation, avoiding personal attacks, and would not normally speak in public for a minister, or the Scottish Government.”

Mr Burnett has urged Ms Sturgeon to discuss the concerns with the Permanent Secretary of the Scottish Government to ascertain if the code of conduct has been breached.

But in a letter, the First Minister said: “The comments were entirely consistent with views I have previously expressed in relation to the stance of opposition parties following last year’s Scottish Parliament election result and also reflected my response to the judgment handed down by the Supreme Court.

“It is of course one of the principal functions of special advisers to represent the views of ministers to the media, including providing a political viewpoint.

“That is precisely what happened here.

“It is therefore beyond any doubt that the special adviser was acting entirely in line with the role as defined in the code of conduct and was doing so with my full authority.

“I therefore reject as entirely groundless your assertion that a breach of the code of conduct (for) special advisers has occurred.”