£740k bill for Euro elections

POLITICAL parties spent almost £740,000 campaigning in Scotland for last year's European Parliament elections.

Figures published by the Electoral Commission showed Labour was the biggest spender, splashing out 228,703, up from 188,581 at the 2004 European elections.

The Tories spent 156,634 on their campaign in Scotland – down on their 2004 figure of 254,829. The SNP spent 126,170 – up from 93,304 in 2004. And the Liberal Democrats spent 105,419 compared with just 57,964 in 2004.