Swinney defends MSPs over failure to pay levy

JOHN Swinney, the SNP leader, spoke out to defend his MSPs last night after it emerged that most have failed to pay a £250-a-month levy imposed on them by the party.

Only seven of the SNP’s 33 MSPs, MEPs and MPs have started handing over part of their salaries to party funds as demanded by the party conference in September. Activists ordered that the elected representatives pay 3,000 from their wages every year to help revive the SNP’s flagging finances.

But so far only Mr Swinney, fellow MSPs Nicola Sturgeon, Alasdair Morgan and Stewart Stevenson, MEPs Ian Hudghton and Neil McCormick plus MP Angus Robertson, have started paying up.

Mr Swinney defended his MSPs and the levy last night, insisting that all would pay but appealing for them to be given more time. He said: "I am totally relaxed about where we are on this. People have got to be given time to adapt their finances and set this up."

And he added: "There was no time limit on this. It’s a big slug of money and people have got to be given a reasonable amount of time. Some have done it immediately, and others will do it soon."

Mr Swinney also faced a challenge on policy yesterday from Alex Neil, an MSP who challenged him for the leadership three years ago. Mr Neil warned that Mr Swinney risked wrecking the chances of an independent Scotland "for a lifetime" unless he joined rival parties in a new, pro-independence alliance.