First Minister's appearance at Holyrood inquiry postponed

The First Minister's appearance before the Holyrood committee investigating the mishandling of harassment complaints against Alex Salmond has been postponed.

Nicola Sturgeon was due to give evidence to the inquiry on Tuesday but the session has now been delayed to see if a recent court hearing could pave the way for her predecessor to appear first.

The Committee on the Scottish Government Handling of Harassment Complaints met this afternoon to consider the next steps in the inquiry following a decision yesterday by judge Lady Dorrian, which may allow more submissions to be made public.

It has been confirmed the committee has postponed the evidence session with Sturgeon until it has fully considered the outcome of the hearing.

A Scottish Parliament spokesperson said: "At its meeting today, the committee was united in its desire to complete this inquiry in an open and transparent way, and to publish its report and recommendations next month.

"Given the impact of the recent court judgement is not yet known, the committee has agreed that it must have the time to reflect on the impact on its work once the full written judgment is published early next week.

"As a result, the committee has agreed that the First Minster’s evidence should be postponed until the full impact of that judgment is considered.

"It is important for the committee to hear from Mr Salmond and the committee has always been clear that the First Minister should be the last witness to appear before the inquiry."

Committee member Murdo Fraser had remarked earlier today that the inquiry was "in danger of failing", highlighting a "woeful lack of cooperation" from the Scottish Government.