An independent adviser to the Scottish Government has said she "didn't have to make changes" in a "whitewash" row over Government-influenced rewrites to a key poverty report.
Naomi Eisenstadt, appointed as an independent adviser on poverty in 2015, said she was asked to change a heading on the report but "can't remember" if she was asked to make further alterations.
She said she "didn't have to make changes", adding that she is "less concerned with transparency" than with anti-poverty progress.
In her draft report she wrote the SNP's council tax freeze policy "is not an anti-poverty measure", which was later deleted. The title of a recommendation was changed from "end the council tax freeze" to "be bold on local tax reform".
Ms Eisenstadt said how the deletion came about is "irrelevant", having told the Times she was asked to change the heading, adding: "It's a long time ago. I don't remember."
She told the Press Association Scotland: "In some sense that's irrelevant. That fact is there has been some shift on the council tax freeze and that's good news."
She said she was "delighted" with progress made against her 14 recommendations to tackle poverty.
She added: "Largely my meetings with ministers were very few and rare, I was mainly working with civil servants, but the point is that I wanted to publish a report where it was likely we were going to make some progress and in that sense I feel I have.
"I'm less concerned with transparency, I'm much more concerned with anti-poverty progress. But in terms of independence, one thing that's really important to stress is that if at any time I had felt undue pressure I would have walked away, and that was clear to the Scottish Government.
"I stand on what the Government is actually doing as opposed to how words were drafted and what was said at various times. It's what they actually do that matters to me.
"There's a difference between influence [changes] and had to make. Yes of course there were discussions and of course I was willing to move on somethings and not on others."
Labour has tabled a request for Communities Secretary Angela Constance to answer an emergency question at Holyrood on the issue as it accused the Government of attempting a "whitewash".
Deputy leader Alex Rowley said: "Scotland deserves better than an SNP Government that tries to whitewash its own record.
"Everyone knows that the council tax freeze benefited the wealthiest over the poorest. Instead of scrapping the council tax as promised, the SNP now only tinkers around the edges. Labour's fairer plan would see 80% of households paying less.
"The initial draft of Naomi Eisenstadt's report confirmed what Labour has said for years - council cuts hurt the poorest communities."
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said Ms Eisenstadt had "robustly" held the Government to account, saying: "As Ms Eisenstadt herself made clear, the recommendations in her report Shifting the Curve 'are mine, as an independent adviser'.
She added: "The recommendation to end the council tax freeze is included in both the two draft reports and the final report.
"The Scottish Government announced its plans to end the council tax freeze in March 2016, two months after the publication of the adviser's report. The text of all drafts and the final report is the responsibility of the independent adviser."
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