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25 Oct 2012
Alex Salmond today blocked calls for the Scottish Government’s top law officer to address the Scottish Parliament in a bid to clear up the row over EU legal advice.
At First Minister’s Questions, Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson challenged the First Minister to finally end confusion on the matter by inviting the Lord Advocate, Frank Mulholland, to appear.
Ruth has today written to the Lord Advocate requesting he attends parliament to give his version of events and answer questions from MSPs.
But Alex Salmond refused to accept that Mr Mulholland should be asked to appear before Holyrood.
Instead, he claimed that neither he nor his deputy, Nicola Sturgeon, misled parliament.
This is despite Mr Salmond admitting in a televised interview that he had sought legal advice on a separate Scotland’s automatic entry to the EU – only for Ms Sturgeon to then tell parliament this week that, in fact, no advice had been obtained.
Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson MSP said:
“Once again we have a First Minister who twists and turns every possible way to try and rescue his battered reputation.
“Alex Salmond has lost the trust of the people of Scotland and nothing he said today helped to clear up this shambles.
“The only way to get clarity on this matter is to have the Lord Advocate address Parliament to clarify who said what and when with regard to the legal advice on whether Scotland would automatically become an EU member.
“Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon can’t both be right – either one misled the BBC and the wider public, or the other misled the Scottish Parliament.
“The First Minister’s performances this week owe more to Richard Nixon: ‘I am not a crook.’
“Well maybe he’s not, but the people of Scotland can’t believe a word the First Minister says – and this is the man that expects everyone to take a leap of faith with his vision for a separate Scottish state.”
