Politics Explained

Is Nicola Sturgeon in the clear?

Sean O’Grady considers what the future holds for the first minister after her battle with Alex Salmond

Friday 05 March 2021 21:30 GMT
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<p>Sturgeon gives evidence in Holyrood this week</p>

Sturgeon gives evidence in Holyrood this week

Now that Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon have both given lengthy testimony to the Scottish parliamentary inquiry into the events of recent years, things may go a little quiet. The opposition parties will continue to press the Scottish government by tabling questions and confidence votes, and they will demand more documents be disclosed, but the main action is probably fine. Further witnesses seem unlikely to add much that is conclusive to the areas presently in dispute.

For the next few weeks, then, the committee of MSPs, divided on partisan lines, will try to move forward to a conclusion about how the Scottish government handled its response to allegations about the behaviour of Salmond when he was first minister; and also how and why the Scottish government fought against the judicial review into the investigation that Salmond launched in 2018. Or, to put it into lurid but understandable terms, did Nicola Sturgeon engage in some conspiracy to “get” her predecessor as SNP party leader and first minister?

As the saying goes, the jury is out.

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