Today's Sunday Herald headline reads "MSPs set to pocket £2m by using your money and they won't say if they will pay it all back.'
It appears 28 MSPs currently charging taxpayers for the cost of mortgage interest on a second home in Edinburgh, 12 are Nationalists, half of whom are cabinet secretaries or ministers. They include finance secretary John Swinney and housing minister Alex Neil, who would make profits of £95,000 each if they sold up. LibDem Nicol Stephen would make a profit of £200,000 or almost four times his salary while presiding officer Alex Fergusson would make £125,000. Tavish Scott, who stands to make £120,000 on his second home in Edinburgh, said Nick Clegg's call for all libdems to pay back any profits was found by last year's review team to be too complicated to work.
As most of us know after a review of the practice last year, all mortgage interest claims will stop in 2011 but according to SNP sources, Crawford and Adam contacted Nationalist MSPs to tell them not to be drawn on the subject. "It's blind panic."
No need for panic from any MSP. Just assure the public you will pay an agreed share of the profit on your property when you sell it. Better still, agree to sell it before the rules change in 2011, pay back the money then the matter will be closed.
Behaving like Gordon Brown and bunkering themselves isn't doing the SNP any good at all, in fact if it continues it will be very damaging. Come on Alex, show some leadership and sort this matter out in the next couple of days. If you allow it to fester the whole of your party will become tainted with greed and sleaze. Take action now.
Pity the Sunday Herald did not list all the 28 MSPs.
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