John Swinney told to sack Angela Constance after 'shocking' grooming gangs emails revealed

Justice Secretary Angela Constance has been accused of having “not been truthful” over her representation of an expert's evidence on grooming gangs.

Ms Constance, during the debate on the SNP government’s Victim’s Bill, spoke out against an amendment by Conservative MSP Liam Kerr that attempted to establish an inquiry into grooming gangs, to be led by the newly-established victims commissioner.

The justice secretary told MSPs that Professor Alexis Jay, who led a public inquiry into the issue in England and Wales, “shares my view and has put on the record and stated to the media that she does not support further inquiries into child sexual abuse and exploitation”,

But following demands from Scottish Conservative MSP Douglas Ross, the Scottish Government has finally released correspondence showing the quote was taken out of context by Ms Constance, despite the justice secretary having previously denied misrepresenting Prof Jay.

An email from Prof Jay to the Scottish Government on September 26, now made public, stated that “I have expressed no views on Mr Kerr’s amendment”.

It added: “But I am of the opinion that the Scottish Government should urgently take steps to establish reliable data about the nature and extent of child sexual exploitation by organised networks, of which so-called grooming gangs is only one component.

“I would appreciate my position being clarified.”

The Scottish code of conduct states that “it is of paramount importance that ministers give accurate and truthful information to the parliament, correcting any inadvertent error at the earliest opportunity”.

It adds: “Ministers who knowingly mislead the parliament will be expected to offer their resignation to the First Minister.”

Mr Ross has called on the First Minister to sack Ms Constance if she refuses to quit.

Speaking in Holyrood, directed at Mr Swinney, the former Scottish Tory leader branded the revelation “shocking”.

He said: “He’s going to lose his justice secretary. Angela Constance is either going to have to resign or be sacked for misleading parliament.

“In black and white it is clear that the justice secretary did not tell the truth to this chamber. In black and white it is clear that Professor Alexis Jay wanted that correction to be made.”

Mr Ross added: “They have been trying to hide this because they are trying to protect their cabinet secretary.

“This goes to the very top, to John Swinney, and this is now a test of his leadership. The justice secretary's position is untenable. She should resign tonight or be sacked.”

Speaking in response, SNP minister for children and young people. Natalie Don-Innes, apologised for publishing the information Mr Ross had requested on the Scottish Government website before the Tory MSP received it.

Mr Don-Innes added: “It was always my intention to provide the information.

“Ms Constance did note specifically that Prof Jay had been the chair of an independent inquiry into child sexual abuse in England and Wales and had put on record in the past that in regard to child sexual abuse and exploitation, people should just get on with it.

“Ms Constance did not state that Prof Jay was not speaking directly about the amendment. She made a general point on Prof Jay’s views on calls for inquiries and that she also wanted to get on with the work needed to protect our children.

“Given the seriousness of the issue at hand, I think that should be all of our focus in this parliament going forward.”