Alex Salmond inquiry: Path cleared for Alex Salmond to give evidence as committee delays Nicola Sturgeon's evidence session

Holyrood's harassment complaints committee was in an emergency meeting from 2pm today to discuss its next steps

Following a High Court ruling by Lady Dorrian on Thursday that amended the court order protecting the anonymity of the complainants in the criminal case against Mr Salmond, the harassment complaints committee decided to postpone hearing evidence from the First Minister.

It is understood the Ms Sturgeon will now likely give evidence in the first week of March, with Mr Salmond giving evidence in the last week of February should his submission be published.

Clerks within the committee will begin writing up the bulk of the report in the interim period, it is understood. The decision has given the committee time to extend the period in which it can hear evidence.

It means Lady Dorrian’s judgement will be examined by the committee at the early stage of next week before evidence sessions are finalised.

It is understood the committee will not be using its statutory powers under section 23 of the Scotland Act to compel Mr Salmond to attend the inquiry, as floated by the Scottish Conservative spokesperson on the committee, Murdo Fraser.

A Scottish Parliament spokesperson said: “At its meeting today, the committee was united in its desire to complete this inquiry in an open and transparent way, and to publish its report and recommendations next month.

“Given the impact of the recent court judgement is not yet known, the committee has agreed that it must have the time to reflect on the impact on its work once the full written judgment is published early next week.

“As a result, the committee has agreed that the First Minster’s evidence should be postponed until the full impact of that judgement is considered.

“It is important for the committee to hear from Mr Salmond and the committee has always been clear that the First Minister should be the last witness to appear before the inquiry.”

However, the exact impact of the ruling on the legality of publishing Mr Salmond and potentially his former chief of staff Geoff Aberdein’s evidence is yet to be fully understood, with Lady Dorrian’s opinion expected at the early stage of next week.

Mr Salmond’s lawyers had written to the committee following the ruling, stating they hoped to resubmit the former first minister’s evidence around the potential ministerial code breach by Ms Sturgeon.

It was understood that Mr Salmond’s team viewed Lady Dorrian’s ruling as a major step forward that cleared the main hurdle stopping the former SNP leader from appearing.

The committee is examining the botched handling of harassment complaints against Mr Salmond by the Scottish Government, which led to a £500,000 legal bill after the government conceded a judicial review challenge on the grounds of the process being “tainted by apparent bias”.

Mr Salmond was also acquitted of sexual offence charges in a trial last year.

Liberal Democrat Democrat member of the committee, Alex Cole-Hamilton, said the committee owed it to the women at the heart of the matter to reach a conclusion.

He said: “The committee clerks have really pulled a rabbit out of the hat, which offers us a solution which removes the time pressures we were facing.

"It will allow us space to consider Lady Dorrian’s judgement in full and pursue the invitation on a voluntary basis of the former first minister’s attendance to our committee before we hear from the First Minister perhaps a week after that.

"We owe it to the women at the heart of these complaints who must have hated every minute of this inquiry to try to reach a conclusion on this.”

Scottish Labour’s member on the committee, Jackie Baillie, said: “I am very glad that the committee has today re-affirmed its wish to speak to Alex Salmond, and given his stated intention to come before the committee I look forward to the date of his appearance.

“On Tuesday the committee will meet to discuss Lady Dorrian’s judgement due on Monday and I hope that we will then be in a position to publish the evidence provided by Mr Salmond.

“I also look forward to the First Minister appearing before the committee in due course, and I am sure she will engage with the committee in the spirit of co-operation and transparency that she has promised on repeated occasions.”

Mr Fraser added: “From the outset, this committee have been clear that we could not do our job properly without being able to question Alex Salmond in person. I’m pleased members today have agreed a decision that will hopefully now allow that to happen.

“Once we have had time to digest the full details of the revised court order, the former First Minister must now appear at the earliest opportunity. His evidence is absolutely vital to this inquiry.

“Nicola Sturgeon promised to be fully co-operative with this inquiry but the reality has been her Government blocking us at every turn.

“When she appears after her predecessor, she must be fully open and transparent.”

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