SNP Justice Secretary Angela Constance survives vote of no confidence

Angela Constance has been facing calls to resign over claims she misrepresented the position of an expert on grooming gangs, and in doing so misled MSPs.

However, a Conservative motion of no confidence failed to attract the necessary support after the Greens voted against it.

It was defeated by 57 votes to 67, with one abstention.

Speaking in Holyrood, the First Minister said Ms Constance was a “sincere” politician who would never mislead MSPs or the public.

He said she had “worked tirelessly to build a safer Scotland”, adding: “For these reasons, Angela Constance has my full confidence as Justice Secretary. She is getting on with the job of making Scotland safer.”

But Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said victims and survivors of grooming gangs and child sexual exploitation had lost confidence in Ms Constance. He has now written to the First Minister’s independent advisers on the ministerial code asking them to investigate.

Mr Sarwar added: “The Justice Secretary has lost the confidence of victims. She has lost the confidence of survivors, and in my view she should not have the confidence of this Parliament. She cannot continue in her role.”

He referred to a letter written by the mother of a grooming gang victim, known as Taylor, which urged MSPs to remove Ms Constance from her position.

The vote comes after documents made public by the Scottish Government last week showed Professor Alexis Jay, an expert who chaired a national inquiry into child sexual abuse, had contacted Ms Constance in September urging the Justice Secretary to clarify remarks she had made in Holyrood.

Facing calls for an inquiry to be established into grooming gangs in Scotland, Ms Constance had insisted then that Prof Jay agreed with her that such a probe was not needed. However, the expert insisted afterwards that her comments had had “nothing to do” with the situation in Scotland.

After the issue was raised at First Minister’s Questions on Thursday, John Swinney insisted he had full confidence in his Justice Secretary. He said Ms Constance had been “making a general comment” on the situation when she made the remarks.

Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay accused “shameless” SNP and Green MSPs of putting “partisan politics before truth and integrity, to the understandable fury of grooming gang victims”.

He added: “To any reasonable person, Angela Constance’s position is untenable. She misled parliament by misrepresenting Professor Jay, tried to cover it up and then 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’s an open-and-shut case of a ministerial-code breach for which she should lose her job. It is disgraceful for John Swinney to defend the indefensible in this way and for the Greens to yet again back the SNP.”

Scottish Labour has threatened to table another vote of no confidence in Ms Constance, and it is understood this option remains open. Prof Jay and the Justice Secretary will both be appearing before MSPs on the education committee on Wednesday morning, where the row will likely be raised.