Tories say justice secretary must go over grooming gangs row

The Scottish Conservatives have repeated calls for the justice secretary to be sacked for "misleading parliament" in a row over a grooming gangs inquiry.

Douglas Ross MSP said Angela Constance should resign or face being fired after the Scottish government published email exchanges with UK grooming gangs expert Prof Alexis Jay.

The row began in September, when Constance opposed a Conservative amendment to the victims bill, saying the professor "did not support further inquiries".

Ross said Constance had now been "shamed" into publishing emails which he said showed she had misrepresented Prof Jay's position on Scotland. Constance has said she gave an accurate account of the academic's position.

The email exchanges were released by the Scottish government shortly before Ross had been due to ask an urgent question on the matter in Holyrood on Wednesday.

The former Scottish Tory leader said the way the release had been handled was "shocking".

The emails show Prof Jay clarifying that she made her comments "in the context of the England and Wales Public Inquiry on Child Sexual Abuse, which I chaired".

She added: "It had nothing to do with [The Conservative] amendment, or the position in Scotland, as could be interpreted from your statement".

Prof Jay said she believed that Scottish ministers "should urgently take steps to establish reliable data about the nature and extent of child sexual exploitation by organised networks".

She also requested that her position was clarified.

The Conservatives believe their amendment to the victims bill would have established an inquiry into grooming gangs in Scotland.

The current Scottish Conservative leader, Russell Findlay, said there had been "a contemptuous cover up in breach of the ministerial code" and demanded to know if the justice secretary had offered her resignation.

Constance was not present in the chamber at Holyrood.

Minister for Children, Natalie Don-Innes, said the justice secretary had been making a "general point" about Prof Jay's views and it was time to "draw a line under" the matter.

The Scottish government announced last week that Prof Jay will oversee a national review of evidence on the operation of grooming gangs in Scotland.

That will then be used when ministers consider whether there should be a judge-led public inquiry.