Tag: Salmond Inquiry

The Majority?: Unionists launch #ResignSturgeon campaign in run up to Holyrood elections

Yesterday The Majority, with the support of Scotland Matters, UK Union Voice and over 250 donors who contributed to a crowdfunding campaign, launched the #ResignSturgeon campaign, the first in a series of campaigns leading up to the Scottish Elections on May 6.

The campaign started with :

Three digital billboards

Glasgow – Clydeside Expressway (access near Lidl on Castlebank St)

Edinburgh – Slateford Road (next to Jewson)

Aberdeen – Market Street (at Union Square)

A #ResignSturgeon banner towed behind an aeroplane flying over: 

  • The Scottish Parliament Building in Holyrood and Edinburgh City Centre
  • Glasgow City Centre and Finnieston Crane area

The campaign is a message to Nicola Sturgeon to ‘take responsibility for her Government’s catastrophic handling of the Alex Salmond Harassment Inquiry, which cost the taxpayer well over £500,000 in damages to Salmond plus hundreds of thousands of pounds more in Scottish Government legal fees, as well as the cost of the ongoing inquiry’.

The group says Nicola Sturgeon hasn’t taken responsibility: ‘She has not fired anyone. The whole of Scotland is talking about her collusion, corruption and cover-up, instead of health, education and jobs. She must resign so the country can move on.’

The campaign message — #ResignSturgeon — is part of an ongoing grassroots hashtag campaign on Twitter that has had hundreds of thousands of retweets and responses and regularly appears on Twitter’s ‘trending’ lists of the social network’s most popular hashtags.

The campaign is funded in part by donations to a crowdfunder, run by The Majority, that has raised almost £6500 to date. https://donorbox.org/billboard-campaign

Mark Devlin of The Majority: “We represent the silent majority of people in Scotland, who are angry and frustrated by Nicola Sturgeon’s shenanigans bringing international shame on Scotland.

“The Scottish public deserve a Parliament and First Minister above reproach and want the Scottish Government to focus on health, education, jobs and the pandemic.

“Instead we have a First Minister misleading parliament, breaking the ministerial code and withholding information from an inquiry into her government’s unlawful, unfair and biased actions against Alex Salmond, all while totally neglecting her day job.”

Alan Sutherland from Scotland Matters: “We call on the First Minister to do the right thing for Scotland: resign and let us focus on recovery from the pandemic.

“She has done great damage to our country and Parliament’s reputation, here and abroad, by conducting an undignified, very public dispute with her former SNP colleague, while preventing the Salmond enquiry from seeing evidence that is crucial to a proper investigation.”

The Majority says it is Scotland’s leading anti-Nationalist media. Since its founding in June, 2020, it has grown to almost 50,000 social media followers.

It aims to unite Scotland’s anti-Nationalist majority; say NO to IndyRef2; Expose Nationalism as a toxic ideology; Support effective anti-Nationalist politicians; and criticise media appeasement.

Website: https://themajority.scot  

Twitter: @themajorityscot   

Facebook: @themajorityscot

Stakes couldn’t be higher as Sturgeon faces biggest test

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon faces the biggest test of her political life when she is grilled by a Holyrood Committee this morning.

The First Minister faces questions over her government’s handling of events surrounding the 2018 harassment investigation into Alex Salmond. It was found to be unlawful by a court in a process which cost the taxpayer over £600,000.

Questions have been raised over her recollection of events and Former First Minister Alex Salmond has accused his one time friend and ally of misleading parliament: that’s tantamount to lying and, if proven, Miss Sturgeon would be expected to resign.

The Tories are not waiting for the committee to deliberate, however: they have passed judgement already. The Scottish Conservatives lodged a motion of no confidence in the First Minister last night following the long-awaited release of legal evidence relating to the case.

The documents cover the key advice from external Counsel that informed decisions at critical points in the progress of the judicial review.

Two key witnesses also come forward ast night with an offer to give evidence which supports Mr Salmond’s timetable of events.

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross said: “There is no longer any doubt that Nicola Sturgeon lied to the Scottish Parliament and broke the ministerial code on numerous counts.

“No first minister can be allowed to mislead the Scottish people and continue in office, especially when they have tried to cover up the truth and abused the power of their office in the process.”

The First Minister has repeatedly said that she ‘can’t wait’ to give her side of the story to the Holyrood committee. Today, she has that opportunity.

There is huge pressure on the First Minister when she faces the committee in an hour’s time – she simply cannot afford to put a foot wrong. Her personal future, that of her party in May’s elections and even the very future of the independence movement itself are all at stake.

On Budget Day it takes something hugely important to replace the Chancellor’s plans as the main political story, but dramatic events at Holyrood have done just that.

This promises to be a memorable day indeed.

Salmond submission published

Alex Salmond’s final submission to Wednesday’s committee inquiry has been published.

It’s quite a document, and on reading it you can understand why some people have done their damndest to make sure it never saw the light of day.

Take this, for example:

“I leave it to others the question of what is, or is not, a conspiracy but am clear in my position that the evidence supports a deliberate, prolonged, malicious and concerted effort among a range of individuals within the Scottish Government and the SNP to damage my reputation, even to the extent of having me imprisoned.

“The individuals, for the avoidance of doubt: Peter Murrell (Chief Executive), Ian McCann (Compliance Officer) and Sue Riddick (Chief Operating Officer) of the SNP, together with Liz Llloyd, the First Minister’s Chief of Staff.

There are others who, for legal reasons, I am not allowed to name.”

Should be quite an interesting session … !

Alex_Salmond_Final_SubmissionDownload