Sturgeon's serious misjudgment
It is extraordinary that Ms Sturgeon, a trained lawyer, wrote to support Rauf after he defrauded 80,000 from the benefits system and that she did so knowing he previously had been jailed for four years for a similar offence. A spokesman for Ms Sturgeon said she had been representing her constituent properly, as she and all MSPs must do under Holyrood's code of conduct, but this is disingenuous – the code merely states that MSPs should take up cases and it does not stop them using their discretion on whether a particular constituent deserves to be represented.
Labour's call for her resignation is premature, but the fact the statement made on Ms Sturgeon's behalf came from a taxpayer-funded political adviser shows the SNP is treating this as a matter not only of her duties as a constituency MSP but also as deputy first minister and health secretary.
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Hide AdAs this is now a government matter, it would, therefore, be appropriate for her to give a full statement to parliament on this issue. Ms Sturgeon has performed ably on difficult issues such as swine flu, but in this case, she has some explaining to do.