Ooh la la! Alex and Tasmina off to Europe again
Even) ...and the globe-trotting SNP pair have had French lessons at taxpayers’ expense
TWO senior Nationalists who were rejected by Scots voters are to represent the UK Parliament at further summits in France – and have even been learning French at taxpayers’ expense.
Former First Minister Alex Salmond and his SNP colleague Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh, who lost their parliamentary seats in June, have signed up to attend meetings of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Paris and Strasbourg.
It comes despite the pair facing criticism after the Scottish Daily Mail revealed last month that they had attended previous meetings in Strasbourg on June 26 and 27 – a fortnight after the General Election.
During the summits, they will each be able to charge the UK taxpayer up to £178 a night for hotel accommodation and claim up to £105 a day for food and drink – in addition to travel costs.
It has also emerged that both charged the taxpayer for taking French lessons in their final months as MPs.
Opponents yesterday said they should be ‘ashamed’ of wasting taxpayers’ cash.
Sources at PACE say that their decision to continue to attend, despite no longer being MPs, has ‘raised eyebrows’ in Strasbourg.
Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser said: ‘Voters are thoroughly fed-up bankrolling the hobby pursuits of Alex Salmond and Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh.
‘It’s bad enough that public money is still being spent while they both desperately cling onto the faint memory of being MPs. But now we learn they’ve blown hundreds learning French. It’s an absolutely absurd use of public cash and one these failed MPs should be utterly ashamed of.’
Mr Salmond lost his Gordon seat to Tory Colin Clark and SNP high- flyer Mrs Ahmed-Sheikh was replaced in Ochil and South Perthshire by another Conservative – Luke Graham.
But, nevertheless, they are scheduled to attend further PACE committee meetings next month, followed by a week-long summit in October.
Official documents seen by the Mail confirm that Mr Salmond has registered to attend a meeting of the political affairs committee of PACE in Paris on September 6, while Mrs Ahmed-Sheikh will be in the French capital for the legal affairs committee meeting a day earlier.
Mr Salmond will take part in discussions on the political situation in Hungary, democratic security in Europe and democracy in Jordan.
Mrs Ahmed-Sheikh is still under investigation by the Law Society of Scotland relating to her time as a lawyer before she became an MP in 2015.
A source at PACE said: ‘A member who is defeated at an election can continue for up to six months or until a new delegation has been appointed.
‘However, in the past it has been the exception rather than the rule that people who lose an election continue to attend. Usually, they have gone on to something else and are not able to attend for that reason.
‘Eyebrows have been raised because it is Alex Salmond. People say he has 101 other things to do, such as his LBC [radio] show or articles for newspapers, so why does he want to continue doing this? That has caused some eyebrows to be raised.’
There are 18 members of the UK delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and a further 18 substitutes. Mr Salmond and Mrs Ahmed-Sheikh are the SNP’s only representatives. The party opted against allowing substitutes from other parties to attend in their place.
The House of Commons has confirmed that Mr Salmond and Mrs Ahmed-Sheikh were among 22
‘He has 101 other things to do’
MPs who received foreign language classes worth £20,316 during the year 2016-17.
An SNP spokesman said: ‘The existing UK delegation remains in place until replaced by the Speaker’s nomination within a sixmonth period of the election.’