Nicola Sturgeon's most senior mandarin is under pressure to investigate an £8 million award of taxpayers’ money for Glasgow just 48 hours before the SNP hopes to win control of the city in Thursday's local government election.

The Scottish Government issued a press release on Tuesday this week in which Kevin Stewart, the Housing Minister, unveiled £8.35 million to provide “high quality office space and hundreds of jobs in the city centre.”

Ms Sturgeon has made winning control of Glasgow City Council after decades of Labour hegemony one of her top priorities in the contest and she chose the city as the destination for her final campaign stop on Wednesday afternoon.

But guidance issued to Scottish Government civil servants in January said they must take “particular care” about making announcements “which could have a bearing on the local elections” in the three weeks running up to polling day.

It also warned officials that they must not “undertake any activity which could call into question their political impartiality.” Separately, the ministerial code of conduct states that ministers have a duty to ensure that their “influence” over the civil service “is not abused for partisan purposes.”

The Conservatives wrote to Leslie Evans, the Scottish Government’s permanent secretary, demanding an explanation for why the announcement was allowed so close to the election and an inquiry into whether the guidelines over the ‘purdah’ period were breached.