Nicola Sturgeon needs to start telling the truth on the secret deal she signed with a Chinese consortium.

Today the Herald reports that Falkirk Council turned down a memorandum of understanding with China Railway Group No 3 because it would have led to pre-fabricated homes made in China, with no benefit for local jobs or the local economy.

Falkirk Council also confirmed that they had taken part in discussions with Sinofortune, the other company in the Chinese consortium, and the SNP Government about potential sites identified by the Memorandum of Understanding signed by Nicola Sturgeon.

Nicola Sturgeon said that there were no actual proposals on the table.  This was later contradicted by the consortium’s UK advisor Sir Richard Heygate, and now again today by Falkirk Council.

Scottish Labour’s Public Services and Wealth Creation spokesperson Jackie Baillie said:

“The more we learn about the secret deal the SNP signed with the Chinese consortium the more questions there are. Nicola Sturgeon needs to start telling the truth, fast.

“Falkirk Council said they knocked back a deal with this Chinese company because it wouldn’t create local jobs -; the SNP now need to urgently spell out the details of what the Chinese consortium propose for Scottish projects.

“The SNP turned a housing shortage into a housing crisis. Nicola Sturgeon would be selling Scotland short if she is trying to solve Scotland’s housing crisis on the cheap.

“Only after Labour pressure the SNP admitted that they had signed a secret deal with a Chinese consortium, despite talks going on for a year.

“Nicola Sturgeon than said there were no proposals on the table -; but that story has now been completely blown out of the water. We have a Scottish council explicitly saying that the SNP Government and one of the companies in the consortium discussed specific plans.

“Nicola Sturgeon has simply not been telling the truth and that is completely unacceptable. Having signed a secret deal, the SNP have sought to mislead Scots about what the details where.

“This deal stinks and it has done from the very beginning. It’s time for the SNP to come clean about this deal and publish all the documents relating to it going back to when discussions first started