David Mundell’s campaign manager benefited from ‘dark money’ donation
The Scottish Conservatives have been urged to be “open and honest” about funding after it emerged David Mundell’s campaign manager benefited from so-called “dark money”.
Electoral records have revealed the secretive Scottish Unionist Association Trust (SUAT) helped pay the salary of the Scottish secretary’s campaign managers at the past two general elections.
His campaign manger costs were£3,488in2015and£2,400 in 2017. The SUAT has given the Tories £319,000 since 2001, but does not publish accounts. It is under investigation by the Electoral Commission over its status as a donor.
SNP MSP George Adam said: “The Tory dark money scandal is becoming a running embarrassment for the party and they’re doing themselves no favours in trying to hide from scrutiny. We’re talking about one of the most senior Tories in Scotland here. He should be open and honest over where this money came from. Transparency over party finances is absolutely essential in any healthy democracy. The public have the right to know who helped put their politicians into office.”
A Conservative spokes- man said: “All donations by the Scottish Conservative Unionist Trust to the Scottish Conservative party are reported to the Electoral Commission and the party has declared every penny it has received from the Trust in accordance with our legal requirements. All election spending was also properly reported.
“The money donated from the SUAT comes from the proceeds of the sale of Scottish Conservative properties in Scotland in the 1960s. Since then, the SUAT has used those funds to promote the interests of the party. These publicly registered documents show the SUAT has helped fund a campaign manager for the Scottish Borders Conservative and Unionist Association in recent years, as it has supported other associations. In 2016 and 2017, this amounted to 50 per cent of the cost of the campaign manager.”