MSPs for Sale, only £700!

Step up, step up, today we have two leaders of a major (majorish) political party in Scotland for sale and only for £700! So you could either purchase 385 Dib Dabs or unfettered access to Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater.

A member of the Green party spoke to The National (it must be said that neither are normally the most trust worthy of sources) and alleged that Lobbyists were able to purchase an “exhibitor reception) for £700. This alleged access was in place during the Bute House Agreement when both Harvie and Slater held ministerial roles.

A spokesperson for the Green party explained that as they haven’t seen the complaint lodged by the member they are unable to comment but denied that the party ever offered sponsorship packages. They also stress that the claim individual MSPs have personally profited from any such sponsorship is baseless.

Whilst it is important to wait for all the information to come to light and for the report from The Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland to be published before coming to conclusions… Lets come to some conclusions. First I believe it is unquestionable that there is a real risk of any policy backed by the Greens coming into question. How can we know what policies they support and which comes from their lobbyists? Once the public lose faith in you it is very difficult if not impossible to win back. It also makes me wonder who paid for access, and could this be why our Green party isn’t overly green?

The other important aspect is why did they take such a measly amount? £700 barely pays for a one way ticket from Inverness to Edinburgh by bus so why would they sell their ideals for £700? Well, it could be a sign that the Greens really had no influence in Holyrood so they are paying almost nothing for almost no political power.

The real point of depression though is that the Greens were meant to better. They stood up for a type of politics that wasn’t influenced by money and removed from the traditional lobbying groups. Yet, only £700 and they went back on that and took a leaf out of Tony Blair’s book. Pay for play became the new norm for the Greens and it only cost £700.

£700.