Commons leader ‘must quit extra jobs’
THE SNP’s new Westminster leader is facing growing pressure to quit a series of jobs he holds with private companies.
Ian Blackford, a former investment banker, earns £48,000 a year from two jobs he has outside of politics.
The Ross, Skye and Lochaber MP is also a director of a firm that runs his family crofting business and a non-executive director of a think tank.
Mr Blackford, who gets £75,000 a year for being an MP, has refused to commit to giving up his other jobs. He would be the only leader of a major party at Westminster who has outside work.
Scottish Labour MSP Neil Findlay said: ‘Ian Blackford has managed to out-do even George Osborne with his collection of second jobs.
‘People in Ross, Skye and Lochaber were already concerned about his ability to act as an MP with so many outside interests.
‘Now he has taken on the huge task of leading the SNP’s dwindling ranks in Westminster, these concerns will only grow.
‘He should resign these second jobs if he wants to have any credibility as a group leader.’
Mr Blackford’s gets £36,000 a year from the Golden Charter Trust. He also earns £12,000 a year as chairman of telecommunications firm Commsworld.
In March, he took on a role as an unpaid non-executive director of the New City Agenda think tank.
The Scottish Daily Mail asked an SNP spokesman if Mr Blackford would resign from his outside jobs but did not receive an answer. Mr Blackford replaces longserving SNP Westminster leader Angus Robertson, who lost his Moray seat to Tory Douglas Ross.
During an interview on BBC Radio Scotland yesterday, he was asked if his wealth would get in the way of his claim to oppose austerity.
He said: ‘The fact that I may have had a career in business in the past is absolutely irrelevant.
‘I come from a working class background. I understand exactly the challenges that many people face.’