NICOLA Sturgeon’s latest speech on independence was blocked from publication by her top civil servant on the grounds it was too “party political”, it has been revealed.
John-Paul Marks, the permanent secretary of the Scottish Government and a former director general at the UK's Department of Work and Pensions, is said to have shared "the concerns” raised by a Tory MSP that the speech was too political to be published on the Government’s official website.
The speech, delivered on July 14, marked the publication of the Scottish Government’s second paper outlining the case for independence, called Renewing Democracy Through Independence.
While the full document and a summary were published on the Government’s website, the speech was blocked by Marks, who is intended to be a politically neutral government worker.
He said it “was not right” for the speech to be released on Government channels – despite it being delivered at the First Minister’s official residence and broadcast using official communications channels.
His comments were revealed in a letter to Tory MSP Jamie Halcro Johnston, who complained about the use of government resources on the plan and then leaked to the Scottish Daily Mail.
The full speech, which included attacks on both the Tories and Labour as well as a comment about the race for No 10, was published by the SNP on their website – who are said to have wanted text published in full on the official Government website.
Alba have said the episode shows the SNP are not sufficiently focused on who they have appointed to powerful positions, reiterating their attack on the Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain who has admitted she is not confident the Scottish Government’s legal case in the Supreme Court battle to secure indyref2 is legally sound.
Chris McEleny, the party’s general secretary, said: “It seems we now have a Permanent Secretary to the Scottish Government that wants to block statements by the Scottish Government, about papers prepared by Scottish Government civil servants, from being published on the Scottish Government website because they are pro-independence statements.
“This of course isn’t a surprise because [Marks] is clearly a high-flyer with 20 years of his civil service career left.
“He has no intention of seeing them out at the Scottish Government as he likely is using this as a stepping stone to one of the great offices of state.
“When you add this to the fact that we have a Lord Advocate unwilling to advocate the Scottish Government’s position in the Scottish Parliament then the First Minister should pay more attention to who she appoints to key positions.”
Marks’s roles before taking the top role in St Andrew’s House were as a speechwriter to the chief secretary to the treasury followed by a long spell in senior positions at the DWP including the principal private secretary to Iain Duncan Smith.
Halcro Johnston said he was concerned Sturgeon had breached the ministerial code.
Marks replied: “The Government Communications Propriety Code provides that where ministers wish the full text of a speech, including any party political comments, to be published, this is not for the Government and must be taken forward by the respective political party.
“This is what occurred in this case, where the preference was for the full text to be published without any redactions.
“Given this, it was right for my team not to publish the written speech on the Scottish Government website.”
Marks added that he was “satisfied” it was appropriate for the speech to have been delivered with the support of the civil service – who are supposed to be politically neutral and aid the government of the day in implementing their agenda.
On the political references in Sturgeon’s speech, Marks said he had checked they were not drafted by “any permanent civil servant” but by the First Minister or her team.
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: "The First Minister and the civil service acted at all times in accordance with the respective Codes and all appropriate guidance was observed.
“When supporting their elected governments in developing and implementing their policies, civil servants must always act in accordance with the Civil Service Code and with integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality.
“It is appropriate for the civil service to support Scottish Government Ministers in the delivery and communication of their policies in regard to constitutional reform, which is intended to help inform public debate.”
