By Steve Bargeton, political editor

MINISTERS WERE yesterday accused of misleading Parliament and the public over a “sham bid” to bring European jobs to Scotland.

Between 2001 and 2003 the Scottish Executive pursued a bid to have a new EU Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) with 150 jobs sited in Glasgow.

At the same time the UK Government was trying to have another EU agency—the European Police College—established in England.

The police college was set up in Hampshire but the maritime agency went to Lisbon.

And the SNP claimed yesterday that the Scottish bid was only a device to win jobs for England.

They claim documents obtained under freedom of information legislation show that Scottish ministers were only going through the motions of making the Scottish bid.

The SNP said that the Executive “colluded in deliberately misleading the people of Scotland.”

An internal Executive memo written on August 8, 2001, said, “It is our understanding that securing the EMSA for the UK is not the main objective.

“The preferred scenario appears to be to attract the European Police Training College to a location in England.

“Any bid for the EMSA would not therefore proceed in the hope that it could be won, but rather so that it could be tactically withdrawn later to boost the chance of getting the police college.”

In another document sent to an MSP, then transport minister Nicol Stephen said, “The UK Government’s negotiating position will also reflect the bid it has made to host the European Police College secretariat.”

SNP deputy leader Nicola Sturgeon said that the Executive must explain why it misled the public over the bid.

But yesterday the Executive said it was successful in having Glasgow selected ahead of other locations as the UK candidate for the maritime agency.