With thanks to Gavin Mowat, Constituency Assistant to Christian Allard MSP.
Mr Allard about to deliver policing bill letter to Malcolm Bruce and Alison McInnes
SNP MSP Christian Allard is once again calling on North East Liberal Democrats to pay their overdue £800,000 bill owed to Police Scotland. Local Lib Dem politicians have so far failed to respond to Mr Allard’s letter demanding that the overdue bill is paid.
On Monday 6 October Mr Allard wrote to Lib Dem justice spokesperson, North East MSP Alison McInnes and deputy leader Sir Malcolm Bruce MP calling on the politicians to sort out their unpaid policing bills for last year’s Lib Dem conference in Glasgow.
Mr Allard is yet to receive a response from either Alison McInnes or Sir Malcolm Bruce.
Police Scotland has been left several hundred thousand pounds out of pocket, yet when asked about the £800,000 bill by Andrew Neil on the BBC’s Daily Politics the Lib Dem leader in Scotland Willie Rennie MSP said:
“I don’t know very much about that at all”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b04l8pd3/daily-politics-conference-special
Mr Allard expressed his frustration that Alison McInnes failed to even comment on the issue at a Policing debate in the Scottish Parliament.
North East MSP Christian Allard said:
“It is quite unbelievable that the Liberal Democrats remain silent on this issue. Alison McInnes likes to talk a lot about policing but all we hear right now is deafening silence.
“Alison McInnes even had an opportunity to address the issue during a parliamentary debate last week but all she managed to do was criticise our police service.
“Every penny counts in the battle to keep our communities safe and the Lib Dems’ unpaid bill leaves an £800,000 hole in the Scottish police budget. This is deeply irresponsible behaviour.
“Malcolm Bruce and his party are showing contempt for Police Scotland which does a fantastic job protecting our communities. My message to the Lib Dems – pay up.”
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I have no knowledge of this issue whatsoever but the sums quoted seem to be straight out of the SNP arithmetical text book. Assuming an average salary of around £30,000 per year, that is £600 per week, for a police constable and a conference lasting a week at most, this would mean that around 1000 police officers attended this event for the entire duration.
I was unaware the LibDems had become so important that they merited a personal bodyguard for each and every one of their delegates. Now if only the SNP would pay back the money they spent to prevent the disclosure of EU advice which they they knew full well did not exist and had never even been requested, they might be in a position to claim the moral high ground on alleged unpaid bills.
Yet another episode of blatant hypocrisy from Mr Allard I would suggest.