Fury as SNP branches are forced to pay back £20,000 Covid grants

TWO SNP branches have been ordered to pay back £20,000 of coronavirus business support that they were not entitled to.

The local branches in Arbroath and Montrose each made a successful claim of £10,000 through the business support grant scheme.

The claims were made last July through Angus Council, which was charged with administering the funds.

But the branches have now been informed that political organisations were not meant to receive the lifeline support – and they must pay it back.

Arbroath West and Letham SNP councillor Alex King said: ‘The rules at the outset did not state the local branch offices of political parties were not entitled to receive business support grant.

‘As the branch treasurer I made an application... based on the rules as they appeared at the time, which was accepted as valid, with a grant of £10,000 being awarded.

‘Last week I received a letter from [Angus Council finance director] Ian Lorimer requesting that the branch repay that £10,000 as we were not entitled to receive it.’

Mr King added: ‘Arrangements to repay the £10,000 were immediately set in motion and... the grant has been repaid by bank transfer as requested by the council.

‘It is a pity these rules regarding political parties were not available when I applied for the grant as this situation could then have easily been avoided.’

The Montrose branch did not respond to a request for comment.

An Angus Council spokesman said: ‘We do not comment on individual grant applications but should we become aware of any issues, we would seek to remedy the situation as appropriate.’

Braden Davy, Angus Council economic development spokesman and Scottish Conservative candidate for Angus North and Mearns, said: ‘These grants were intended for the likes of small businesses who faced major costs because of Covid restrictions and loss of income.

‘But many small business owners in Angus will have seen their dreams go to the wall while they waited for support like this. Any anger they felt about missing out while the SNP were given handouts would be justified.’

It comes after it emerged the Scottish Government used some temporary coronavirus funding to pay for permanent spending commitments, including free school meals, free bus travel and public sector pay rises.

A report by the Institute for

Fiscal Studies think-tank showed Scotland has been handed more funding per person to tackle the coronavirus than England, but some of it has been spent on policies unrelated to the pandemic.

It found overall funding per person is 30 per cent higher in Scotland than south of the Border.

A briefing note said the Scottish Government had received an additional £9.5billion from the UK Government in Covid-related funding. The think-tank warned some of the Scottish Government’s pledges would have to be funded from the core budget in 2022-23 and beyond, when money is likely to be ‘tight’.

About two-thirds of Scottish Government funding will come from the block grant it receives from the UK Government, according to the IFS report.

Scottish income tax will contribute 27 per cent of funding and other Scottish taxes 5.5 per cent, with borrowing contributing the remaining 0.5 per cent.

‘Any anger felt would be justified’