Letters at centre of 'highly irregular' Crown Office intervention in Alex Salmond affair to stay secret

Letters at the centre of the Crown Office intervention around the publication of Alex Salmond’s submission on the ministerial code will remain secret after Holyrood officials decided they would not be released.

The correspondence from the prosecution service was part of an intervention labelled “highly irregular” by Mr Salmond and led to a fractious week in Holyrood, with the Lord Advocate forced to answer questions in front of MSPs about the move.

The intervention saw the former first minister’s submission to the Salmond inquiry on the alleged ministerial code breach by Nicola Sturgeon published before being removed, redacted and reuploaded.