Scotland’s justice secretary has survived a vote of no confidence amid claims she misrepresented a number one skilled on grooming gangs and due to this fact misled parliament.
MSP Angela Constance has ignored calls to face down and has First Minister John Swinney’s full backing within the wake of feedback she made about Professor Alexis Jay.
Mr Swinney led her defence, describing her as a “sincere minister” who was “getting on with the job of making Scotland safer”.
Each Scottish Labour and the Scottish Conservatives lodged motions of no confidence, with a debate held at Holyrood on Tuesday afternoon.
Scottish Labour, the Scottish Tories and the Scottish Liberal Democrats joined forces to vote in opposition to Ms Constance, however the movement failed because of the backing of the SNP and Scottish Greens.
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Justice Secretary Angela Constance at Holyrood on Tuesday. Pic: PA
MSP Russell Findlay, chief of the Scottish Conservatives, stated: “Shameless SNP and Green MSPs put partisan politics before truth and integrity, to the understandable fury of grooming gang victims.
“To any affordable individual, Angela Constance’s place is untenable. She misled parliament by misrepresenting Professor Jay, tried to cowl it up after which publicly lied after being caught.
“She twisted Professor Jay’s words to reject our calls for a Scottish grooming gangs inquiry and then failed to correct the record.
“It is an open-and-shut case of a ministerial code breach for which she ought to lose her job.”
The row revolves around a comment made by Ms Constance as MSPs debated the Victims, Witnesses and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill in September.
Amid a failed Scottish Conservative amendment for a public inquiry to be established into grooming gangs in Scotland, Ms Constance insisted Professor Jay agreed with her that such a probe was not needed.
Professor Jay added that her comments quoted by Ms Constance had “nothing to do” with the scenario in Scotland.
Scottish Labour chief Anas Sarwar stated he supported the movement as “victims and survivors of grooming gangs and child sexual exploitation have lost confidence in this justice secretary”.
He added: “The justice secretary misrepresented Professor Jay’s views in order to find an excuse not to have an inquiry into grooming gangs.
“Victims and survivors ought to be capable of depend on their justice system, and their authorities, to inform the reality, to behave with integrity and to place them first.
“On this, the justice secretary has failed.”
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Throughout First Minister’s Questions final week, Mr Swinney claimed Ms Constance “was making a general comment” on the scenario as he gave his justice secretary his full backing.
He reiterated his assist for Ms Constance through the debate, saying: “The cabinet secretary in the debate in September did not state that Professor Jay was speaking directly about the amendment.
“She made a common level drawing on the publicly acknowledged views of Professor Jay.
“But I acknowledge that members of parliament and members of the public will draw different conclusions from the words we all use.”
Mr Swinney described Ms Constance as a “sincere minister who would never address parliament in a way that would in any way mislead parliament or the public”.
The primary minister added: “She’s never shied away from asking tough questions about our approach to justice.
“Nor has she ever prevented tackling among the largest points that we face.
“For these reasons, Angela Constance has my full confidence as justice secretary.
“She’s getting on with the job of creating Scotland safer, and I urge members to allow her to proceed doing that by rejecting this movement at the moment.”
The movement was defeated by 57 votes to 67, with one abstention
