Sturgeon's serious misjudgment

REPRESENTING their constituents is the most important obligation placed upon members of the Scottish Parliament, but it doesn't follow that all deserve fulsome support, no matter the circumstances. In intervening in the courts on behalf of benefits fraudster Abdul Rauf, deputy first minister Nicola Sturgeon's judgment has deserted her.

It is extraordinary that Ms Sturgeon, a trained lawyer, wrote to support Rauf after he defrauded 80,000 from the benefits system and that she did so knowing he previously had been jailed for four years for a similar offence. A spokesman for Ms Sturgeon said she had been representing her constituent properly, as she and all MSPs must do under Holyrood's code of conduct, but this is disingenuous – the code merely states that MSPs should take up cases and it does not stop them using their discretion on whether a particular constituent deserves to be represented.

Labour's call for her resignation is premature, but the fact the statement made on Ms Sturgeon's behalf came from a taxpayer-funded political adviser shows the SNP is treating this as a matter not only of her duties as a constituency MSP but also as deputy first minister and health secretary.

As this is now a government matter, it would, therefore, be appropriate for her to give a full statement to parliament on this issue. Ms Sturgeon has performed ably on difficult issues such as swine flu, but in this case, she has some explaining to do.