THE Press Complaints Commission has ruled that the Sunday Herald did not breach the editors’ Code of Practice when it reported concerns about a paid consultancy involving a well-known peer and MSP.
A front page story on February 1 reported that a complaint had been made to the Holyrood Standards Commissioner about Lord Foulkes undertaking lobbying and consultancy work for a law firm.
While there was no dispute that such a complaint had been made, Lord Foulkes said he had told the newspaper prior to publication that a similar previous complaint had been rejected by the Standards Commissioner – yet the newspaper had not included that information in its report.
This failure, he said, was likely to mislead readers.
The Commission disagreed. The fact was that a new complaint had been made and had yet to be decided by the Standards Commissioner.
To see the adjudication in full, please click here.