John Swinney has insisted it is “entirely appropriate” for Scotland’s top law officer to brief him on “sensitive” court cases.
He spoke out after it emerged he had been given details of the scale of the embezzlement charge facing former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell back in March 2025 – almost a year before the details of this became public knowledge in February 2026.
Mr Swinney had already faced questions from opposition leaders at Holyrood after it emerged Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain had briefed him on the matter in January this year.
But fresh papers published by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service on Tuesday so she had also done this some 10 months previously.
It is an entirely appropriate course of action for the Lord Advocate to take
Scottish Conservatives said the new document showed “sleekit Swinney” was getting “secret information” about the “highly sensitive” case against Murrell – Nicola Sturgeon’s former husband.
But Mr Swinney insisted the Lord Advocate’s actions were “entirely appropriate”.
Speaking to the Press Association on a visit in Edinburgh, the First Minister said there was a “long-standing tradition” from both the current Lord Advocate and her predecessors “of advising the first minister of sensitive cases that the first minister may be asked to comment on in public”.
Mr Swinney added this was because his role involves carrying out media interviews “on a daily basis”, adding that as a result he is “regularly asked questions about current and live topics”.
The First Minister said: “The Lord Advocate takes the view, properly in my view, that the First Minister needs to be advised of the status of particular issues, so that I don’t inadvertently say anything that can damage any cases that have been taken forward.
“That’s a long standing principle. The Lord Advocate has applied it in this particular issue and in other issues and it is an entirely appropriate course of action for the Lord Advocate to take.”
But confirmation that Ms Bain gave the First Minister details of the the embezzlement charge against Murrell ahead of this becoming public knowledge has led to accusations that she gave a “political advantage” to the SNP leader, leading to to fresh pressure on the Scottish Government to split the dual role of the Lord Advocate – who as an adviser to ministers sits in the Scottish cabinet, but is also the country’s most senior prosecutor.
Mr Swinney said the Scottish Government was looking at this, and would set “further steps” in due course.
However he stressed the dual nature of the role of Lord Advocate was created by the Scotland Act of 1998 – the legislation which established the devolved Scottish Parliament – with the First Minister saying this “is a reserved piece of legislation”.
However he added the Scottish Government had “undertaken research work by commissioning analysis of the issues around the holding of the dual role of the Lord Advocate”.
Mr Swinney said: “Ministers are currently considering that research report and we will set out what further steps will be taken in due course.”
