A Tory MSP has been cleared of sexual harassment following a party disciplinary hearing.
Miles Briggs faced accusations he made persistent unwanted advances to a female worker from another party at a parliamentary social event.
Following the February event, the woman formally lodged a complaint with the Conservatives in July.
After an investigation and disciplinary hearing took place in Edinburgh on Monday which cleared Mr Briggs.
(Photo: Gordon Terris)
The Lothian MSP said the last two months had been a "living hell" for him.
He said: "I have today been cleared by the disciplinary committee of the Scottish Conservatives following an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment made against me.
"I welcome the chance today to speak publicly for the first time about these allegations.
"They have hung over me in private for the last two months. Now that they have been made public, I feel I can finally set the record straight.
"The allegations are completely false."
He added: "The last two months have been a living hell for me and my family as I have had to face these false allegations of sexual harassment made against me.
"Damage has clearly been done to my character, especially among those who don't know me, and I hope I have the chance to address that in the coming weeks and months."
Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson said that the party was "committed to ensuring that women and men are able to report allegations of sexual harassment".
She said: "Having reviewed the evidence submitted from both sides, the hearing concluded that Mr Briggs is not guilty of sexual harassment.
"This was based on several credible eyewitness statements, including some from representatives from other political parties.
"Mr Briggs was not suspended as an MSP during this process because no allegation of criminality was made against him."
She added: "This has not been an easy process but the party is committed to ensuring that women and men are able to report allegations of sexual harassment to us and maintain their anonymity as they do so ...
"Where there is credible evidence of sexual harassment by party representatives, we will not hesitate in taking disciplinary action."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel