Watchdog says he 'can't trust ministers' with Sturgeon inquiry files

The Scottish government is being threatened with further legal action by the information commissioner over the release of documents about an ethics investigation into Nicola Sturgeon. David Hamilton said he could no longer trust the government to handle some files "unsupervised" after being given "preposterous and unacceptable" excuses for not complying with his orders. Ministers have repeatedly missed deadlines to publish correspondence about the Sturgeon inquiry, which cleared her of misleading parliament during a Holyrood probe into the handling of harassment claims against Alex Salmond. The Scottish government insisted it was handling the documents with "the highest standards of impartiality and integrity". The information commissioner is dealing with six different freedom of information appeals relating to the Sturgeon and Salmond inquiries. The government published a large bundle of documents last month following a court battle. Hamilton's latest criticism comes after he sought reassurances that ministers had complied with a 2024 order to release legal advice relating to a previous appeal about inquiry evidence. After receiving a response, the commissioner said he believed th