Rolling coverage of the day’s UK Covid and politics news
Good morning. Yesterday Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, was cleared of breaching the ministerial code, on various issues relating to how she responded to the sexual harassment allegations against Alex Salmond, her predecessor, in a report by James Hamilton, the independent adviser on ministerial standards. After being dogged by the scandal for months, the report marked an important moment of vindication and it means there is no chance of her losing a vote of no confidence in the Scottish parliament.
But this morning, at 8am, a second report into the affair will be published. It is from the Scottish parliament’s committee on the Scottish government’s handling of harassment complaints publishes its report. The committee, like the parliament, does not have an SNP majority (there are nine members: four SNP MSPs, two Tories, one Labour, one Lib Dem, and an independent/former Green who effectively holds the swing vote) and, according to a leak last week, one of its conclusions is that Sturgeon did give a misleading account to MSPs of a meeting with Salmond – although, according to the leak, the committee did not conclude she did this deliberately.
Related: Nicola Sturgeon vows to focus on elections after inquiry cleared of breaching code
Related: What did report that cleared Sturgeon of misleading Scottish parliament say?
