SNP criticised for 'eye-watering' £1.2m car company spend

Scottish Labour has criticised the SNP for an “eye-watering” bill of more than £1.2m on cars and vehicle costs in just a year.
The SNP has been accused of 'eye-watering' spending on car costs.The SNP has been accused of 'eye-watering' spending on car costs.
The SNP has been accused of 'eye-watering' spending on car costs.

Figures obtained by the party show that £1,211,084 was spent by the Scottish Government on “unspecified vehicle costs” between February 2019 and March 2020.

That is the equivalent of nearly £100,000 per month on vehicle costs, with Scottish Labour’s finance spokesperson Daniel Johnson calling for answers into the spending.

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Mr Johnson said: “This is an eye-watering amount of money paid to car companies in such a short space of time – we need answers from the government over how and why every penny was spent.”

The figures also include nearly £100,000 (£96,480) paid to Tesla, owned by multi-millionaire Elon Musk and a company specialising in high-end electric cars.

The spending shows a further £50,000 to Toyota.

Mr Johnson added: “To fritter nearly £100,000 on Tesla while thousands of Scots are struggling to make ends meet is a slap in the face to the people of Scotland.

“Of course, the government needs to spend money on vehicle costs, but the amount of money paid in such a short time does not just raise eyebrows, it raises alarm.

“We need answers from the government over this eye-watering wastage of public money, and we need them now.”

Much of the spending was on “vehicle additions”, the figures show, with £26,000 spent three times on new cars for the Scottish Government in February 2019.

Other than Tesla, car dealership The Colt Car Company, owned by Mitsubishi, received almost half a million from Scottish Government funds for ‘vehicle additions’.

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We are committed to phasing out petrol and diesel cars from the public sector fleet by 2025 and replacing fossil-fuelled vehicles with plug-in or fully electric vehicles where appropriate.

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"This is demonstrated by our increased investment in ultra-low emitting electric vehicles, which now make up 51 per cent of the overall current fleet (and 100 per cent of the current Government Car Service fleet).”

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