Alex Salmond statement RECAP: Former First Minister announces new Alba Party ahead of Scottish Parliament election in May

Former Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond is to make a public statement – and you can follow it all in our live blog.

Former Scottish first minister Alex Salmond is to make a public statement.

Mr Salmond said he will make his statement and then hold a virtual question and answer session at 2pm on Friday.

It comes after he announced plans to take legal action over the “conduct” of the Scottish Government’s top civil servant Leslie Evans.

He said the permanent secretary failed to take “real responsibility” for failings highlighted in two reports this week.

Mr Salmond said his announcement of the legal action on Wednesday would be his “final statement” on the reports.

The topic of his statement on Friday has not been disclosed.

Earlier this week, two reports were published related to the Scottish Government’s handling of harassment complaints against Mr Salmond.

James Hamilton’s report into whether First Minister Nicola Sturgeon breached the ministerial code concluded she did not do so with regard to the four allegations he looked into.

But the Scottish Parliament committee examining the handling of harassment complaints found Ms Sturgeon misled Parliament and identified a number of failings.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.