Salmond set to snub Gathering committee

Alex Salmond is set to snub MSPs by refusing to appear before the Scottish Parliament committee investigating the use of public money to support last year's loss-making clan gathering in Holyrood Park.

The First Minister has been invited by Holyrood's public audit committee to give evidence on the Scottish Government's help for The Gathering, which was a centrepiece of the 2009 Year of Homecoming.

But a spokesman for Mr Salmond suggested the committee might be forced to settle for hearing from the then Culture Minister Mike Russell instead.

The spokesman said: "Mike Russell took the relevant policy decisions and therefore he would clearly be best placed to help the committee."

But Lothians Labour MSP George Foulkes, who sits on the committee, said his fellow members would be "outraged" if Mr Salmond refused to attend.

He said: "There are questions we want to ask which only Alex Salmond can answer."

One of the most controversial issues which the committee is looking at is a 180,000 government loan which was given to The Gathering Ltd, the private company behind the event.

It was the first loan of its kind to a private company. Audit Scotland has said the Government failed to carry out robust checks on whether the loan could be repaid. The company later collapsed with debts of around 516,000 and the loan was written off.

Earlier this month, the directors of The Gathering Ltd, told the committee it was a phone call from Mr Salmond's office which led to the loan being agreed. Mr Salmond's spokesman has insisted the call was made by an official from Mr Russell's office.

However, the First Minister was active in his support for the event and in trying to rescue it for the future.

According to the Audit Scotland report, he phoned the chief executive of the Edinburgh Military Tattoo to ask him to consider buying the company and also rang Scottish Enterprise to see how it could help.

Lord Foulkes said: "If you look at the Audit Scotland report, the First Minister appears again and again."

There is a precedent for the First Minister appearing before a parliamentary committee. In January 2008 Mr Salmond was twice quizzed over the Donald Trump affair, when he denied trying to influence officials or ministers over a planning application for a 1 billion golf resort.