No link between Rupert Murdoch meeting and Sun’s support for SNP - Nicola Sturgeon

NICOLA Sturgeon, the Deputy First Minister, has claimed there was no link between Alex Salmond’s discussions with News Corporation over proposals to take over BSkyB, and the Scottish Sun newspaper’s decision to back the SNP.

• Sturgeon admits failure to disclose 2008 meeting between Mr Salmond and Rupert Murdoch was a mistake

• First Minister implicated in controversy over News Corporation’s political ties

• The Scottish Sun backed SNP before last year’s Holyrood Election

Questions were raised this week over the First Minister’s relationship with media mogul Rupert Murdoch and his company, following evidence at the Leveson Inquiry into press standards.

During a session with News Corporation chief James Murdoch, it emerged that the company’s director of public affairs Frederic Michel emailed James Murdoch suggesting Mr Salmond was prepared to intervene, and lobby UK Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt on its proposed takeover of BSkyB.

Mr Salmond, who has denied any wrong-doing, was backed by the Deputy First Minister today.

She told the BBC he had believed that News Corporation’s consolidation of its ownership of BSkyB would have created the potential for increasing jobs in Scotland.

Asked if there was any guarantee of jobs in return for backing the merger, Ms Sturgeon said the First Minister’s belief was “based on discussions he had with people in the company”.

“There was an expectation that if News Corp consolidated its ownership of Sky then that would lead, over time, to increases in jobs,” she said.

Pressed on whether it was a coincidence that the Scottish Sun newspaper, owned by News Corporation, switched support to the SNP at the same time the First Minister was said to be willing to lobby Jeremy Hunt on the firm’s behalf, she replied: “I am emphatically and unequivocally saying there is no connection between these two things.”

Turning to the Scottish Government’s failure to disclose to the Leveson Inquiry a meeting between Mr Salmond and Rupert Murdoch in New York in April 2008, Ms Sturgeon said this had been a mistake.

She said: “That’s an error. Mistakes happen and the Scottish Government has very openly said that was a mistake. A mistake that will be corrected.”