The Scottish Conservatives are urging First Minister Humza Yousaf and Deputy First Minister Shona Robison to refer themselves to the Independent Advisor on the Scottish Ministerial Code, over their misleading claims in relation to the UK Covid Inquiry.
The party will use their debating time in the Scottish Parliament on Wednesday to accuse the two most senior SNP ministers of breaching section 1.3 (c) of the code which requires ministers to give ‘accurate and truthful’ information to Parliament.
Leader Douglas Ross will head up the debate which will centre around misleading statements given by Humza Yousaf and Shona Robison to Parliament as to when the inquiry requested crucial WhatsApp messages.
A timeline published by the SNP Government on Wednesday showed that the inquiry had repeatedly asked them for messages stretching back to February this year.
That directly contradicts statements given by both the First Minister and Deputy First Minister to Parliament. The former told Parliament on November 2 that the messages were only asked for in September, while Shona Robison said in the same week that it “had been just over a month” since the request was made.
Douglas Ross says that there is a “culture of cover-up and secrecy” at the heart of the SNP Government and this latest example is a “gross insult” to grieving families.
The Scottish Conservative leader – who has challenged Humza Yousaf over the SNP’s WhatsApp messages at the last three First Minister’s Questions – says if the truth is to be fully uncovered, the pair must agree to refer themselves to the Independent Adviser to allow for a full investigation.
Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross said: “Humza Yousaf and Shona Robison – the two most senior members of the SNP Government – have deliberately misled the Scottish Parliament.
“That is why my party will use our debating time in Holyrood to urge the First Minister and Deputy First Minister to refer themselves to the Independent Adviser on the ministerial code.
“Only then can the whole truth be fully uncovered as to whether or not they have fallen short of the standards that the public expect them adhere to.
“They have clearly contradicted themselves with their statements in relation to requests by the UK Covid Inquiry, which simply do not stand up to scrutiny. They sum up the culture of cover-up and secrecy at the heart of the SNP Government.
“This latest example is a gross insult to the grieving families at the heart of the Covid Inquiry, who have seen its progress frustrated thanks to the SNP’s misleading statements.
“I would urge Humza Yousaf and Shona Robison to refer themselves to the Independent Adviser on the Ministerial Code so that we can understand why they misled Parliament.
“MSPs from all parties need to get behind our motion to stand up for the integrity of the Scottish Parliament.”
Here’s motion but since it’s not officially submitted yet, I’d leave it out from notes, but it can be briefed if anyone asks:
“That the Parliament agrees that the First Minister and Deputy First Minister should refer themselves to the Independent Adviser on the Scottish Ministerial Code for a violation of paragraph 1.3(c) of that code which requires ministers to give ‘accurate and truthful information to Parliament, on account of their statements misleading this Parliament on 31 October 2023 and 2 November 2023, relating to the date of requests for information from the UK Covid-19 Inquiry.”
Notes
More details on the Ministerial Code can be found here: https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/corporate-report/2023/07/scottish-ministerial-code-2023-edition/documents/scottish-ministerial-code-2023-edition/scottish-ministerial-code-2023-edition/govscot%3Adocument/scottish-ministerial-code-2023-edition.pdf