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Monday, July 14, 2003
Nationalist MSPs face £3000 party taxTHE SNP faces controversy at its September conference over a call by some activists for MSPs to pay £3000 of their salaries into the party's coffers.
A resolution will suggest that the 27 MSPs should donate £250 a month to the party, which feels lack of money was a key reason for its failure to win more seats in the last election. The Nationalists had 35 seats before May's election...
Scottish Socialist MSPs already donate half of their salaries to their party, insisting that they only need £25,000 a year to live on.
Tommy Sheridan, the SSP leader, said: "We accept the average wage of a skilled worker in Scotland as defined by the Scottish Parliament information and research centre and the Inland Revenue.
"That results in £1300 per month being donated by each one of our MSPs to our party, so £3000 a year to us is a mere drop in the ocean.
"Most people in Scotland don't even earn £25,000 a year, and 97% of Scots don't earn £49,000 a year, which is what an MSP's salary is." The Herald
