So it's going to be really important to make sure that every option that is available to Scotland to protect our position is kept open".
"We will take all appropriate steps to protect our position and will vigorously contest any suggestions of wrongdoing in this matter," the bank said, declining to elaborate further.
Alteri declined to comment on Tuesday but chief executive, Gavin George, said last week: "We decided to acquire the equity and shareholder loans to protect our position as secondary lenders to Austin Reed, behind Wells Fargo, who remain senior lender".
We do not believe that bidders, including Airwave, were given equal treatment under relevant procurement laws and we have therefore made a claim in order to protect our position for any loss suffered," it said.
"The biggest picture is what was best for Nevada, and we wanted to protect our position, our voters' opportunity to be the first in the West and to be a bellwether state in the cycle".
"Our approach is: Let's protect our position, because eventually the economy will come back, and we don't want to start from 30% lower than where we were".
Based on all the key factors–strengthening our competitiveness, protecting our strategic position, generating attractive financial returns the Google agreement is far better than Microsoft's search-only hybrid proposal.
"Stop pretending this is something to do with protecting our negotiating position," said Ken Clarke, a member of the Conservative Party, during a particularly heated exchange.
"In my view, it gives us the best chance of meeting the objectives that were set out in the referendum campaign by the Leave campaign themselves but also gives us the best chance of protecting our international trade position and protecting our jobs". He called on his fellow Conservative MPs to back Prime Minister Theresa May's Chequers plan to push the deal through.
"However, I've also been consistently clear that I want to examine all options for protecting Scotland's position, protecting our interests, protecting our relationship with the EU.
