Humza Yousaf: 'Not my experience' that Fergus Ewing is a bully

The veteran MSP faced allegations of bullying while he served as rural economy secretary.

A veteran MSP who faced allegations of bullying while a minister under Nicola Sturgeon has refused to comment further on the failure of the government to publish the report.

Fergus Ewing, who was provisionally suspended from the SNP for one week after a vote of the party’s MSPs on Wednesday night, faced allegations of misconduct while he was rural economy secretary.

The MSP for Inverness and Nairn has always rejected the allegations made against him, however the public has never been told whether a government investigation upheld the complaints made by civil servants.

The Scotsman has requested the report and the outcome under freedom of information rules, but GDPR concerns and a suggestion Mr Ewing would have to consent to its release has kept it secret.

Asked why he would not consent to the report’s release if he was confident of his innocence, Mr Ewing refused to comment.

He said: “I’ve already made the position clear that I can’t say any more about that, I’ve answered that ad infinitum and there’s nothing really that I’m able to say in response to that.”

Humza Yousaf, however, said that it was “not my experience” that Mr Ewing was a bully.

He said: “Look I worked well with Fergus Ewing at the time I was transport minister and he was the cabinet secretary.

"That again is not my experience.”

Earlier this year, the First Minister said that the government was unable to retrospectively release the outcome of the report into Mr Ewing.

In 2022, Nicola Sturgeon changed the rules around misconduct complaints so the outcome of investigations and their existence would be made public after probes concluded.

Mr Yousaf told MSPs: “When it comes to the question that he asked in relation to ministerial complaints, my view has not changed from what that of my predecessor was. She was absolutely right.

"We have an obligation in the Government to take legal advice where appropriate and to adhere to that legal advice on any issue, including complaints around former ministers.”