SNP Chair and East Renfrewshire MP Kirsten Oswald has been slammed for her party’s lack of co-operation with the Scottish Parliamentary inquiry into the Scottish Government’s botched handling of harassment complaints against Alex Salmond.
Former Scottish Conservative leader Jackson Carlaw has written to Ms Oswald stressing that “our shared constituents deserve answers” following the revelation that Peter Murrell, SNP Chief Executive, sent text messages advocating “pressure” be put on Police Scotland to investigate Mr Salmond.
Carlaw asked the SNP Business Convenor to clarify exactly when she was made aware of these texts, if she informed other party officials and what action she, as chair, took. The First Minister has previously stated that the SNP would “co-operate fully” with the parliamentary inquiry and Carlaw challenged Oswald to make good on this promise from Nicola Sturgeon.
Oswald has been silent on the civil war between Mr Salmond and Ms Sturgeon and with both her party leader and Chief Executive increasingly mired in scandal, she must confirm what she knew and when.
Commenting, Jackson Carlaw MSP said:
“Kirsten Oswald chairs the SNP and therefore must be fully transparent over what she knew about this case.
“The public have right to know whether those at the top of the party are going to be individually and collectively, fully compliant with the requests for key information arising from the official Scottish Parliamentary inquiry.
“The SNP’s business convener must answer these questions to paint a full picture of who knew what and when. And try to restore some sense of propriety to the senior management of her party?
“With each passing day, more and more questions are being raised on the conduct of senior SNP figures in relation to this case and that must be cleared up as a matter of urgency. There is no use Kirsten Oswald simply adding to her collection of job titles; she has a duty to act as well.”
