Derek Mackay set to receive £12,000 golden goodbye after schoolboy texts revelations

Shamed former finance minister Derek Mackay will receive a pay-off of almost £12,000 after resigning as a Scottish Government minister, it emerged last night.

Despite quitting the government after the revelations of his inappropriate text messages to a 16-year-old schoolboy, Scottish legislation states that after 90 days he will automatically received an “office holder resettlement grant”, which is the equivalent of three months’ salary.

Mr Mackay earned an extra £47,780 a year as a Cabinet secretary, on top of his £63,579 basic salary as the MSP for representing Renfrewshire North and West.

As a result, he will receive severance pay of £11,945. Mr Mackay, whose parliamentary webpage has already been wiped of his government position and names him as an independent MSP as a result of his party’s suspension, is already being urged to hand back the sum, which is paid by the Scottish Parliament.

Derek Mackay could be in line to receive the equivalent of three months wages as part of a 'resettlement grant' despite quitting the government over the texts revelations.

Scottish Conservative chief whip Maurice Golden said: “Given the circumstances in which Mr Mackay left the role, it’s clearly inappropriate for him to profit in any way. The pay-off should be rejected or, at the very least, passed on to a charitable cause.

“Anything else would do serious damage to Scottish politics as a whole.”

A Scottish Liberal Democrat spokesperson said: “Derek Mackay should step down as an MSP and refuse any ministerial pay-off.”

A Scottish Parliament spokesperson said the parliament’s Corporate Body had no discretion in relation to the making of the payment. “The legislation says the SPCB must pay the grant after 90 days. It is a matter for the member thereafter.”