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Angela Constance is under growing pressure to quit as Justice Secretary after her position was described as "untenable" by the leader of the opposition. The SNP Minister isn't even expected to speak on behalf of the government during a debate on grooming gangs set to take place at Holyrood on Wednesday.

She already dodged an urgent question two weeks ago about whether she misled MSPs and the public by "misrepresenting" expert Professor Alexis Jay's views on whether a public inquiry into grooming gangs should take place in Scotland. She claimed she didn't back this, when this wasn't true.

And now with Ms Jay now breaking her silence and calling for a probe into the issue, it is understood the government is set to announce plans for a pre-cursor inquiry into the scandal, but will stop short of a full investigation. But Jenny Gilruth will lead the SNP's response.

Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay has been calling for this to happen for months, and hit out at the "complacency" when asked about this issue by the Scottish Daily Express. He said: "I can't understand John Swinney's continued dithering on this. You know right now in Scotland, there are two tiers of child abuse victims.

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"There are those who, quite rightly, are having their cases heard by the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry. And there are many, many others who are locked out of that process. And when we put forward an amendment to the victim's bill seeking to begin the process of a grooming gang's inquiry. This was voted down by the SNP.

"Now that was inexplicable at the time and in the passing weeks and months since it's even more bizarre. Because we've heard a growing abundance of evidence about grooming gangs operating across Scotland. This was where young girls very often, in care, social, local authority care, residential care, were deliberately targeted, plied with alcohol, drugs, trafficked, and raped by groups of men. Why on earth is the SNP continuing to dither? We must get an inquiry without any further delay."

Pressed further on whether he thinks Ms Constance to resign, he added that her "position is probably now untenable" as she's "gone missing." He highlighted how she blocked Tory attempts to begin the process of an inquiry because "Professor Alexis Jay didn't support what we were proposing.

He added: "Now we only knew her misrepresentation of Alexis Jay was untrue not because Angela Constance came clean but because buried on the minutes of an obscure government website was a correction to the minutes of a meeting where Alexis Jay wanted the record set straight.

"Angela Constance subsequently suggested that she had not misrepresented Professor Jay. And yet, here we are today with Professor Jay coming out saying that she believes that the government should act urgently in respect of a grooming inquiry. So Angela Constance has been caught at best misrepresenting Alexis J at worst lying about it. And victims who I speak to have absolutely no confidence in Angela Constance or what she's proposing."

He described it as "staggering" that the Justice Secretary is once again "in hiding" and "gone AWOL" and described her not leading the debate as "quite frankly pathetic."

With the government expecting to announce an independent review of child abuse case on Wednesday, Scottish Labour MP Joani Reid described this as a "a victory for the people over an establishment that has spent months telling us that no investigation was needed."

She went on: "In September John Swinney was rejecting calls for an investigation out of hand. He dismissed the growing body of evidence that Scottish victims of organised child abuse and sexual exploitation were being let down by the police and social work departments.

"Even John Swinney has had enough and that's why he stepped in last week to take personal charge. Now he is trying to tidy the mess up before Christmas. But he is just as guilty of standing in the way of justice as Angela Constance. He won't even sack her despite the events of the last week showing her evident lack of moral integrity.

"If we get a review, it must be independent and fast moving - exactly like the one conducted by Louise Casey for England. It cannot be another creature of a comfortable Edinburgh establishment. The police cannot be allowed to mark their own homework, the social workers must not be allowed to self-assess their performance."

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