Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon found themselves embroiled deeper in the political storm on whether they sought legal advice over Scotland's EU membership.
Alex Salmond has, of late, found himself at the epicentre of a political and legal fallout. Salmond, as a part of his drive for Scottish independence, has on many occasions claimed Scotland would automatically qualify for EU membership if independence was gained.
This runs contrary to the words of deputy first minister Nicola Sturgeon, who said legal advice was sought only after the signing of the Edinburgh Agreement by Alex Salmond and David Cameron.
The defence mounted by Sturgeon is Salmond was talking about a general context and she a specific process as a result of the start of the campaign.
This disparity in their accounts has led to Salmond being called a liar, including by the SNP-supporting Scottish Sun.
Anger has erupted further by the revelation the Scottish government took the Information Commissioner to court over publication of legal advice. This has been subsequently abandoned after Sturgeon stated there was no such legal advice. This was at a cost of £12,000 to the Scottish taxpayer.
Accusations are now flying at the first minister of a cover-up during what has been a very bad few days for the SNP. And pressure on the first minister has been further piled on as a result of the estimated cost for the AWPR (Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route) soaring £230 million to £653m.
Following the past week’s failures, and in the wake of the torrent of criticism over the weekend, it looks like this too could be another disastrous week for the independence campaign.
The Scomnishambles continues…
2 Responses to “Advice? What advice? Salmond finds himself in more hot water over EU ‘lies’”
Eddy Boyband
At least no one has died as a result of him telling porkies, unlike when labour told a massive porkie which resulted in death and destruction.
uglyfatbloke
A point generally ignored is that there is no guarantee that either part of the former UK would have automatic membership of the EU. The general premise that there is ‘no precedent for a seceding nation’ in EU practice is perfectly true, however this is a question of dissolving a Treaty between two sovereign states, not of secession.
Of course lying is an important issue, but let’s face it, Blair did it all the time and it did n’t do his career any harm….look how rich he is!