Calls for Nicola Sturgeon to resign after misleading Scottish Parliament

Calls for Nicola Sturgeon to quit are growing after an inquiry concluded she misled the Scottish Parliament over her handling of sexual harassment claims against Alex Salmond. 

A committee of MSPs have ruled the First Minister's 'inaccurate' evidence to them amounted to a 'potential breach of the ministerial code', which is generally considered a resignation offence. 

Sturgeon is refusing to budge and last night stuck by her testimony to Holyrood's Salmond Inquiry.

Despite being found guilty by the committee, Sturgeon continues to accuse her opposition committee members of playing politics and lashing out at the 'partisan leaking' of the report before publication.

Sections from the bombshell report leaked two weeks after Ms Sturgeon gave eight hours of evidence about her role in the Scottish Government's botched investigation into Mr Salmond in 2018. 

Ms Sturgeon had insisted she did not offer to intervene in the complaints process against Mr Salmond during a meeting with him on April 2, 2018.

However, by a majority verdict of 5-4, the committee, which voted down party lines, said that this was in 'fundamental contradiction' to testimony from Mr Salmond.

They say Mr Salmond's account was corroborated by his legal adviser, Duncan Hamilton QC, who told the inquiry that Ms Sturgeon said: 'If it comes to it, I will intervene.'

The report concludes: 'Her [Ms Sturgeon's] written evidence is, therefore, an inaccurate account of what happened and she has misled the committee on this matter. This is a potential breach of the ministerial code'.

Stepping up his calls for her resignation, Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross said: 'We cannot set a precedent that a First Minister of Scotland can mislead the Scottish Parliament and get away with it. 

'We have to trust that the First Minister will be truthful. We no longer can.' 

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