Scotland’s education secretary is under pressure after he was accused of meddling in a council decision to close schools to aid his “personal election prospects.”
A leaked email showed Michael Russell urged SNP councillors in Argyll and Bute to reverse a decision to support several school closures.
Mr Russell, who sits as a south of Scotland MSP, will contest the Argyll and Bute seat at the Holyrood elections in May.
In an email to SNP councillor Donald Macdonald, he warned supporting the move would cause “severe problems which could be very destructive to our reputation and prospects.”
He added that the policy “should not be allowed to proceed” and called for an emergency meeting to discuss it.
The email, dated November 18, was followed by a U-turn by the council group.
Opposition politicians accused Mr Russell of abusing his position as education secretary to increase his chances of winning the seat.
As the email was sent from his parliamentary email account there were also suggestions he had misused parliamentary resources.
Under the parliamentary code of conduct, MSPs are not allowed to use parliamentary resources to campaign on constituency issues in regions they do not represent.
They are also prevented from using parliamentary IT systems to run election campaigns.’Conflict of interests’On Tuesday the Conservatives’ education spokeswoman, Liz Smith, demanded Mr Russell publish all correspondence he has on the issue.
“This smacks of Mike Russell misusing his position and parliamentary resources for his personal political ends,” she said.
“He is not an MSP for Argyll and as a minister must avoid any actual or perceived conflict of interests.”
Lib Dem election director George Lyon said, “It looks like the education secretary is using his influence to meddle in Argyll and Bute to try and save the SNP.
“He said he wouldn’t get involved but he has. He has a lot of explaining to do and will face tough questions when he gets back to Holyrood.”
Labour MSP Rhoda Grant said, “The only reason Mr Russell sent this email is because he is worried about what the closures will do for his personal election prospects. He has a lot of explaining to do.”
But an aide to Mr Russell defended the email.
He said, “Mr Russell makes it clear he is not acting in a ministerial capacity and was simply replying to an email sent to him, setting out his opinion on an important local issue which he is perfectly entitled to do.
“There is absolutely nothing wrong with this email exchange.”
He added, “Mr Russell has already made it clear he will have no role in decisions regarding Argyll school closures.
“Should any case come before the Scottish Government, Mr Russell would be excluded because of his interest.”