SCOTLAND’S arts quango needs an “independent root and branch review” following a series of controversies, Labour said yesterday.

In a letter to SNP Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop today, her Scottish Labour opposite number Claire Baker said the government could not “wash its hands” of the debacle.

Creative Scotland chief executive Janet Archer resigned last month over the group’s heavily criticised decision to defund 20 arts organisations in January. The row also prompted two other board members to quit — and five groups later had their funding reinstated.