Salmond ally hopes family will continue legal action

Alex Salmond launched fresh legal action against the Scottish government in November 2023

The acting leader of the Alba Party says he hopes Alex Salmond's legal case against the Scottish government continues after his death.

Kenny MacAskill said the decision was for the former's first minister's family to make but that he would support court action to expose alleged wrongdoing.

Salmond was in the process of suing the Scottish government over a botched investigation into harassment complaints when he died of a heart attack on Saturday.

The government previously vowed to defend itself "robustly" in court.

Salmond's close friend David Davis, a Conservative MP, has also vowed to secure "justice" for the ex-SNP leader.

In November last year, Salmond lodged a Court of Session petition seeking a reported £3m in damages and loss of earnings.

He had already been awarded more than £500,000 in costs by the Scottish government over the mishandling of harassment complaints against him.

The former first minister, who launched Alba in 2021, was also cleared of sexual assault charges at a subsequent criminal trial.

Kenny MacAskill has stepped in as acting Alba leader following Alex Salmond's sudden death

MacAskill, an ex-SNP cabinet colleague of Salmond, said he would support the legal action if the family decided to push forward with it.

He told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland: "My own position is that I will respect whatever the family decide.

"But I would certainly hope and I believe that they are likely to continue this, because that court case will expose, I believe, malfeasance amongst individuals and institutions that really has to be brought out to allow history to properly remember Alex Salmond."

The former first minster has sued the government for misfeasance – a civil law term that means the wrongful exercise of lawful authority.

After someone dies, the executors of their estate are able to pursue claims for past damages.

However, if they lost the case, the estate could be liable for legal costs. An executor could also be personally liable for making a decision which no reasonable executor would.

Dr Nick McKerrell, a senior law lecturer at Glasgow Caledonian University, told BBC Radio Scotland's Drivetime: "A legal action like this, which is very unusual, and has never really been successful before in Scotland, would cost a lot of money.

"And it’s whether the executors of Alex Salmond’s will think that is a proper use of his funds to continue the action."

He said the legal action could continue, adding: "But such a personal action in terms of the evidence that would have been required to be given by Alex Salmond in the action, I’m not sure that you could get a proper hearing for this case.”

'Day of reckoning'

Salmond was claiming damages for injury to him – not physical injury, but an alleged loss of earnings due to his treatment by the government.

His lawyers claimed Holyrood officials acted "improperly, in bad faith and beyond their powers with the intention of injuring" the ex-SNP leader.

His team said that they did not recognise the £3m figure, but said the claim for damages and loss of income would be “significant”.

Salmond warned a "day of reckoning" was coming for the Scottish government as he named former first minister - and political protegee - Nicola Sturgeon and ex-permanent secretary Leslie Evans in the case, accusing both of misfeasance.

At the time the case was launched, then-first minister Humza Yousaf said the government would defend itself "robustly".

Sturgeon has repeatedly denied being part of a plot against Salmond, or that there was evidence of one existing at all.

An initial hearing into the "misfeasance" action was heard at the Court of Session in November to lay the groundwork for a future case, which is yet to begin.

The case has been postponed several times since November while separate investigations take place - including complaints Salmond has made about events around the original case, about leaks to the media and claims of perjury.

Conservative MP David Davis has raised questions about the government's treatment of Alex Salmond

Davis, a former Conservative minister, said he had been due to meet Salmond for dinner on Sunday where they would have discussed his complaints.

He said he wanted to see Holyrood given powers of privilege to allow it to investigate without fear of prosecution as he seeks “proper answers to what exactly happened in the treatment of Alex Salmond”.

Davis told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland that the legal issues had "put a huge pall over the last several years of this great man's life and, who knows, it might even have accelerated his death".

He added: “I want to see this exposed, opened up, so that the Scottish government is forced to answer the questions it ought to answer on this matter.”

A Scottish government spokesperson said it would not be appropriate to comment on live litigation.