The Scottish Government has come under pressure to publish legal advice it has received regarding an independent Scotland’s membership of the EU.
Both the Conservatives and Labour called on ministers to outline what they had been told after External Affairs Secretary Fiona Hyslop admitted being in possession of the information during a TV interview.
Ms Hyslop told BBC Scotland’s Newsnight Scotland programme the information was confidential and no government, whether at the Scottish Parliament or Westminster, would reveal advice of this kind.
She added: “But what we have said, and Nicola Sturgeon said this in October, is the White Paper would set out the proposals.”
At First Minster’s Questions, Conservative leader Ruth Davidson said: “On the basis that (Ms Hyslop) wasn’t pretending, the First Minister needs to tell the people of Scotland what that advice contains.”
First Minister Alex Salmond replied: “When you request specific legal advice from the law officers it is quite normal to receive it.
“What we will do is exactly what the Deputy First Minister said on October 23 2012, that the Government’s position on the independence White Paper will be based on, and consistent with, the advice that we receive,” he added.
Last year the SNP administration came under fire from the opposition parties for going to court to challenge a ruling by Information Commissioner Rosemary Agnew, which ordered the government to reveal if advice had even been sought.
Labour’s Patricia Ferguson said: “The SNP Government needs to come clean and publish the legal advice it claims to have received.
“Given the track record of the SNP, until they do, we won’t be able to trust a word they say on this matter.”
A spokesman for the First Minister said later that advice was received on May 3 and all Scottish Government statements in relation to the EU would be informed by it.