ALEX Salmond is likely to face stinging criticism over his role in the Trump affair from the floor of the Scottish Parliament after the decision of a Holyrood committee to open the subject up for debate by all MSPs.
The local government committee wants the full parliament to debate its report into the First Minister's role in the Scottish Government's decision to "call in" the planned £1 billion golf and housing development.
A group of committee conveners ha
s to agree to the move first and then the parliamentary bureau, which decides parliamentary business, has to find time for a debate.
But with the opposition parties dominating both bodies, it appears inevitable Mr Salmond's role in the controversial planning application will come before the full parliament, after it returns from its Easter recess.
Donald Trump, the US property tycoon, wants to build a "golf resort" on the Menie Estate in Aberdeenshire – which is in Mr Salmond's Gordon constituency.
His plan has been approved and rejected by different committees of Aberdeenshire Council and will be the subject of a public inquiry after John Swinney, the finance secretary, decided to call in the application.
Mr Salmond has consistently denied any wrongdoing, insisting he acted at all times as the constituency MSP, and not as the First Minister.
But the local government committee did not entirely share that view, publishing a report that claimed Mr Salmond had been "cavalier" in his attitude to the Trump development.
That report was clouded by a split along party lines, with the three SNP MSPs on the committee refusing to endorse paragraphs critical of Mr Salmond.
The full debate on the floor of the parliament is likely to be just as partisan, with Labour, Liberal Democrat and Tory MSPs taking the opportunity to condemn Mr Salmond's role and SNP members defending the First Minister.
It is not known whether Mr Salmond will defend himself or ask other ministers to speak up on his behalf.
But the Scottish Government will have to defend its role, not just in its handling of the Trump affair but also over another controversial development, in Aviemore, which was mentioned in the committee report.
In that case, ministers have been accused of interfering in the planning process to help the cause of a major SNP donor, Donald Macdonald, who was facing delays in trying to get approval for an expansion of the Highland Aviemore Resort.
During the committee's deliberations yesterday, Bob Doris, an SNP MSP, raised questions about the pressure on parliamentary time, and said it would be better to discuss issues such as child poverty, which the committee is looking into.
But Duncan McNeil, the committee's Labour convener, said it was wrong to suggest such an inquiry's parliamentary time would be "at risk" if the Trump affair was debated.
Alasdair Allan, another Nationalist MSP, said the SNP was not anxious about a debate on the Trump plan but was raising concerns because the committee report was so "poor and thin".
Fellow SNP member Kenny Gibson claimed most people were "bored rigid" by the affair.
The committee voted 5-3 on party lines in favour of going to the conveners' group to call for a debate in parliament on the findings, but agreed unanimously to call for the Scottish Government to respond to it.
David McLetchie, a Tory MSP, criticised the Scottish Government for releasing more than 200 pages of information on the Trump development after the committee had published its report. "Had it been released earlier, there may have been a number of pertinent questions that we could have addressed to witnesses," he said.
KEY POINTS IN THE COMMITTEE REPORT1Donald Trump tried to influence Alex Salmond by sending him newspaper cuttings suggesting he may go to Northern Ireland instead. On the day before the application was called in by ministers, Mr Trump's personal assistant sent an e-mail to the First Minister's office – it contained two articles, saying the development planned for the Menie Estate might move to Northern Ireland.
2Mr Trump phoned Mr Salmond personally before the application was called in.
An e-mail from David Ferguson, head of the Scottish Government's planning decisions division, to Jim McKinnon, the chief planner, on 11 December last year, stated: "First Minister said Donald Trump wished to contact him to discuss the situation and he felt he had no option other than to take the call."
3The First Minister's office was closely involved in the process surrounding the Trump development, despite him insisting he was acting as a constituency MSP. E-mails and correspondence released this week showed that the chief planner and senior officials in the planning department worked closely with the First Minister's private office on the issue. This was despite Mr Salmond being barred from ministerial involvement because of his role as the constituency MSP for Gordon, the site of the proposed development.
4Officials were concerned about the prospect of Mr Salmond meeting Mr Trump at an event in New York . The First Minister is due to fly to the United States at the end of the month for Scotland Week, and there had been suggestions in the media that the two might meet at an event on 31 March. An e-mail from Robin Naysmith, the Scottish Government's representative in New York, revealed that officials from Mr Salmond's office had been in touch to confirm the First Minister would not be meeting Mr Trump at the event.
5Jack McConnell, the former first minister, was very keen for his administration to share in any good news. Correspondence from 2005 and 2006, when Mr Trump started looking for a golf project in Aberdeenshire, showed Mr McConnell and his aides were keen to get involved if announcements were made, aware it would be seen as "good news".
6There was concern among Salmond aides over opposition to the Trump plan and worries that Mr Salmond was appearing to ignore these opponents. Hannah Bardell, the First Minister's office manager, wrote last October: "I'm getting a bit of hassle... these people feel they have no representation."
The full article contains 1022 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
