Holyrood inquiry to continue without Alex Salmond session

Mr Salmond will now not give evidence to the committee in person, but his written submissions will be taken into account

MSPs investigating the government's mishandling of complaints against Alex Salmond say they will continue their inquiry without him giving evidence.

The former first minister had been due to appear on Tuesday, but the session was put off amid a row over documents and will now not take place.

A spokeswoman for the group said Mr Salmond had set conditions they "simply could never meet".

The group will now move on to question First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

The spokeswoman said MSPs could study the "detailed written submissions" Mr Salmond has already made, which can be used to question Ms Sturgeon and to inform their final report.

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The committee was set up to investigate the Scottish government's botched handling of two internal harassment complaints against Mr Salmond, dating back to when he was first minister.

But after he raised a legal challenge in the Court of Session the government conceded its investigation had been "unlawful" due to a procedural error, and agreed to pay him more than £500,000 in expenses.

The two first ministers are the final witnesses still to appear before the inquiry, with only weeks left for evidence to be collected and a report written before Holyrood breaks up for May's election.

And Mr Salmond will now not give evidence after the two sides failed to come to an agreement over the conditions for his appearance.

The inquiry committee has been moving between virtual and in-person meetings during the pandemic

Mr Salmond had said he would only appear if the committee published in full a submission he made alleging that Ms Sturgeon broke the ministerial code.

His lawyers asked for a range of other assurances, including "very specific direction" on every matter which he would have been barred from speaking about due to court orders.

At a meeting on Tuesday, committee MSPs voted by five to four not to publish the submission, with the four SNP members being joined by independent Andy Wightman to defeat the Conservative, Labour and Lib Dem representatives.

A spokeswoman said the parliament could have published a redacted version of the submission in line with its data protection obligations, but said this was "impossible" after the full paper was made "readily accessible" elsewhere online.

In addition to this, she added: "There are a number of conditions to his appearance that the committee simply could never meet, including waiving threat of all legal prosecution - it is simply not within the committee's gift to make such a commitment".

There was dissent from some opposition members, with Scottish Labour MSP Jackie Baillie saying the fact Mr Salmond would now not appear was "a blow to the credibility of the committee, and by extension to the parliament itself".

And Tory member Murdo Fraser said the decision to not publish the submission was "hugely disappointing", adding: "Today's vote will only raise suspicions among the wider public that the SNP government have had no intention of being fully transparent with this inquiry."

The committee will now move on to take evidence from Nicola Sturgeon, without hearing from her predecessor

Mr Salmond's lawyers had written to the committee on Sunday saying he was "in the dark about the parameters of his evidence and what assurances and protections you can provide him".

They said he "cannot take his oath to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth" unless members addressed his "legitimate concerns" about the limits of what he could address.

On Tuesday, convener Linda Fabiani wrote back to Mr Salmond confirming that they were "not able" to publish his submission about the ministerial code, and that they were "not in a position to meet your request for immunity from prosecution in order for you to refer to certain evidence under oath".

She said the group "must complete evidence taking without further delay", adding that they were "grateful for all the other written evidence that you have submitted which we have been able to publish".

The committee is expected to move on to question its final witness, Ms Sturgeon, at its next meeting.

Ms Sturgeon said on Monday that she was "looking forward" to facing MSPs in the coming weeks, adding: "I will get the opportunity to take head on some of the ridiculous suggestions that have been made about this whole situation, suggestions I know have caused many people a great deal of distress."