30 October 2026
The Court of Session has today [30 October 2026] issued a ruling which finds against the Commissioner’s decisions (Decisions 279/2025 and 315/2025). These decisions consider FOI requests for evidence used by the Hamilton Inquiry during the investigation into whether the former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon breached the Ministerial Code during the Scottish Government's handling of complaints against Alex Salmond. These appeals considered whether the Scottish Ministers were wrong to withhold certain information on the basis that doing so would amount to contempt of court.
The Commissioner will now carefully consider the Court’s Opinion but welcomes the clarification offered by the Court in relation to the purpose, meaning and effect of the Court Orders referenced. The Commissioner agrees with the Court that it was 'surprising and unfortunate' that during the lengthy investigation undertaken by the Commissioner the Scottish Ministers made no reference to, nor did they at any stage seek to rely upon, the case of Murray which is central to the Court's judgement.
Consequently, although a thorough assessment of risk had been considered by the Commissioner to prevent over-redaction by the Scottish Ministers, this was not explicitly carried out within the framework of Murray.
These decisions are now remitted back to the Commissioner for his reconsideration. He will now reflect fully on the implications with reference to the terms of the judgement in Murray, as directed by the Court.
