Scotland’s first minister says he has been “assured” by his employees there was no use of publicly-funded stamps for the SNP’s election marketing campaign.
Holyrood officers are investigating the potential use of stamps paid for by MSPs’ bills following a grievance.
Underneath Holyrood rules, MSPs are given as much as £5,500 yearly for stationery and postage prices however are strictly barred from utilizing the money for occasion political functions.
Experiences emerged on Sunday {that a} member of John Swinney’s workplace employees had stated the “stamp fairy is very useful when it comes to campaigns” in a WhatsApp group chat with different senior aides.
The Scottish first minister stated he had been instructed by employees there had been no use of the allowance for SNP campaigning.
“I’ve obviously discussed this with my staff and I’ve been assured that no parliamentary stamps that have been provided by Parliament have been used to support election purposes,” he stated on the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg.
He described the message referring to the “stamp fairy” as “humorous remarks made in a WhatsApp channel”.
“What’s important is the reassurance that I’ve had that parliamentary stamps have not been used for election purposes,” he stated.
Pushed on whether or not he was positive there had been no use of public cash for the SNP marketing campaign, he stated: “I’m assured of that.
“We’ve clearly been partaking in a fundraising marketing campaign to help the election marketing campaign.
“It’s been supported by the many members that we have around the country.”
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‘Completely unacceptable’
Chatting with LBC in a while Sunday, Mr Swinney agreed it could be “completely unacceptable” for assets for use on this manner.
“The rules are clear that parliamentary stamps that are procured for that purpose should be used for parliamentary activities,” he stated.
He added it’s “important” for these in query to cooperate totally with parliamentary authorities.
Talking after information of the investigation broke, a spokesman for the Scottish Parliament stated: “We take the usage of publicly-funded assets very significantly.
“Officials are investigating the matter to establish whether there has been any misuse of parliamentary resources.”
SNP has ‘serious questions’ to reply
Scottish Tory chairman Craig Hoy stated the SNP has “serious questions” to reply over the allegations.
“These leaked messages appear to show staff potentially misusing public resources,” he stated.
“The SNP must be upfront with parliamentary authorities about this situation.”
