The First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond, has written again to the Cabinet Secretary, Sir Jeremy Heywood, who is also head of the UK civil service, following confirmation of the fact that the Treasury did release potentially sensitive market information to the media, ahead of a formal announcement by Royal Bank of Scotland.
Commenting, the First Minister said: "The head of the UK civil service has confirmed that the Treasury did indeed release sensitive information regarding RBS to the media in advance of any formal announcement. That is an extraordinary development which merits an urgent and thorough investigation, given that it appears to be a clear and serious breach of both financial market rules and pre-referendum guidelines. We need to know which minister or official authorised the release of this information, the timing of that release and to which outlets."
Continuing Mr Salmond said: "This is further evidence of the lengths to which the Westminster establishment are going to in an effort to spread scare stories about business activity in Scotland following a Yes vote next week. That includes the reports that the Prime Minister met with supermarket bosses in Downing Street yesterday to try and persuade them to comment on their price structure in Scotland – again, an extraordinary revelation given the strict controls on retailers’ pricing."
Concluding Alex Salmond said: "Westminster’s scare tactics are being exposed one by one – the people of Scotland are seeing straight through them, and will not be cowed or bullied, as they continue to move towards a Yes vote in huge numbers."
