RUTH Davidson has been accused of sending Scottish tax
payers’ money down to London to pay for Tory campaigning. Edinburgh North and
Leith MP Deirdre Brock said details released in the latest batch of MSPs’
expenses showed payments had been made by the Conservative Support Group in
Holyrood to the Tory Policy Research Unit (PRU).
On their website the PRU claims to be a “non-profit-making,
pooled research facility based in the Houses of Parliament” and they currently
provide assistance to about 270 MPs.
The Tories insisted the money was paid to the group to help
with research in reserved matters, but the SNP are sceptical, pointing out that
both payments had come just before elections. Brock says sending Holyrood money
to pay people in the Westminster parliament is a “slap in the face for everyone
who fought for a Scottish Parliament”.
Holyrood Tories paid the unit £1,200 in April 2015, and
then £3,600 last March before the Scottish Parliament stopped for elections.
“Ruth Davidson paying the Tories in Westminster to send
people to Scotland to tell us what to do in elections is shocking. It’s even
worse that she used Scotland’s money to do it,” Brock said. “Expenses are
supposed to be there to help MSPs serve the people, not so that the Tory branch
office can pay its dues to the Tory high command.
“Using Scottish Parliament cash to inflate Tory party
coffers at Westminster is a slap in the face for all who fought for the
Scottish Parliament.” A spokesman for the Scottish Tories said: “The payment
was approved by the Scottish Parliament’s Allowances Team and was for services
of the Westminster research team to assist the Scottish Conservative MSP Group
with reserved matters.”
The Scottish Parliament told the National: “The expenses
scheme is founded on the principle that parliamentary resources can only be used
for parliamentary purposes.” PRU make their money from Tory MPs who each
reportedly pay just under £4,000 a year to the service that provides briefings
and research and writes letters to constituents. The MPs can then claim this
money back through expenses.
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