John Swinney faces no confidence motion over legal advice

The Scottish Conservatives have lodged a motion of no confidence in the deputy first minister over the publication of legal advice. 

MSPs have voted twice to compel the Scottish Government to publish its legal advice taken as part of the action brought forward by Alex Salmond over its internal harassment probe. However, ministers have not handed it over. 

A one-line motion has now been submitted, stating that parliament has no confidence in John Swinney because he has ignored the two votes.

The Scottish Liberal Democrats have previously said they will back the motion.

If the parliamentary bureau agrees, the vote will take place tomorrow, led by Ruth Davidson, in the hopes of the legal advice being released before Nicola Sturgeon’s appearance at the Salmond inquiry on Wednesday.

Douglas Ross, leader of the Scottish Conservatives, said: "The public deserves to know what happened and the legal advice is crucial to uncovering what mistakes were made.

"We gave John Swinney one more opportunity to respect the will of the Scottish Parliament. He has failed to do so.

"Opposition parties have united twice already to demand the legal advice is released. We now call on them to do so a third time.

"We are still willing to withdraw this motion at any point, if the government respects the will of the Scottish Parliament and publishes the legal advice."

The Scottish Government was forced to pay more than £500,000 in legal expenses to Salmond after a judicial review ruled a probe into allegations about his behaviour was unlawful.