The Scottish Conservatives’ four committee conveners in Holyrood have written to Nicola Sturgeon demanding answers over accusations of a Scottish Parliament “power grab”. It emerged earlier this week that cabinet secretaries have appointed junior MSPs as aides who also sit on the committees which are supposed to hold them to account. Now, MSPs Margaret Mitchell, Gordon Lindhurst, Edward Mountain and John Scott have asked the First Minister to act on the “clear conflict of interest”. They convene the justice committee, economy, jobs and fair work committee, rural affairs committee and delegated powers committee respectively. Below is a copy of the letter: Dear First Minister, We are writing as the four Scottish Conservative committee conveners in relation to the position of Parliamentary Liaison Officers in Scottish Parliamentary committees. As has been raised in the press in recent days, it is now clear that several SNP PLOs are sitting on committees which have a substantial link to their minister’s own portfolio. This means we have SNP MSPs in parliamentary committees, charged with scrutinising legislation, who are also appointed by those same ministers to help that legislation pass. We believe this amounts to a clear conflict of interest which needs to be addressed. When the SNP was in opposition, it rightly criticised this arrangement. Indeed Fiona Hyslop declared that “we must preserve the committees’ integrity and their ability to scrutinise the executive”. She also argued that “one cannot serve two masters”. We agree. As new conveners, we consider it essential that our own committees provide the robust scrutiny of legislation which was sadly too often lacking in the last parliament. We want to build a committee system which is seen to provide the kind of intensive challenge function first envisaged when the parliament was created. This is crucial given that, unlike Westminster, the Scottish Parliament has no revising Chamber. We are therefore calling on you as leader of the SNP to remove SNP PLOs from committees which have a clear link to their minister’s own portfolio. We believe this would help to ensure confidence in the integrity of the Scottish Parliament, and – ultimately – lead to better law-making by your government. We look forward to your reply. Yours sincerely, Margaret Mitchell Gordon Lindhurst Edward Mountain John Scott