What Gives With the SNP and £12,000
What gives with the SNP and £12,000?
Because £12,000 is the amount paid to Janey Godley for her ScotGov Covid ads and, curiously, this same sum was also paid to Derek Mackay who had to resign his job as finance minister in disgrace.
God Above, Scot Gov! (September 08, 2021)
The Scottish Sun reports that SNP Ministers approved a payment of £12,000 for Janey Godley (a keen supporter of Nicola Sturgeon) to record a short advert on the importance of getting the Covid vaccine.
Now I would have thought a public spirited person would have done this for free - not least because £12,000 is what some of Glasgow lowest paid council workers earn in a whole year and they're still fighting for equal pay!
We Need To Talk About Derek (07/05/20)
The Times reports that the Scottish Government's former finance minister, Derek Mackay, is to receive a £12,000 compensation payment for losing his job - despite the fact that Derek's fall from grace was his own stupid fault.
Now the article says that the Scottish Parliament has no option but to make this payment which must be true - no doubt it's part of the parliamentary rules.
But parliamentary 'rules' were part of the problem when it came to the MPs' expenses scandal at Westminster and if you ask me, the same is true of Holyrood.
Derek Mackay cannot possibly be doing his job as an MSP properly if he has not been seen in public for three months and Derek will have a real brass neck if he agrees to accept a large sum of money after losing his job in such unedifying circumstances.
The reality is that Derek Mackay is clearly able to decline or return any money the Scottish Parliament is duty bound to offer him because of its hidebound rules.
And the Scottish Parliament could also benefit by introducing a Power of Recall over MSPs - a power that already exists in the Westminster Parliament and which has been used to good effect recently, of course.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/scotland/disgraced-derek-mackay-gets-12-000-payoff-r5qwx0tzn
Disgraced Derek Mackay gets £12,000 payoff
Now the article says that the Scottish Parliament has no option but to make this payment which must be true - no doubt it's part of the parliamentary rules.
But parliamentary 'rules' were part of the problem when it came to the MPs' expenses scandal at Westminster and if you ask me, the same is true of Holyrood.
Derek Mackay cannot possibly be doing his job as an MSP properly if he has not been seen in public for three months and Derek will have a real brass neck if he agrees to accept a large sum of money after losing his job in such unedifying circumstances.
The reality is that Derek Mackay is clearly able to decline or return any money the Scottish Parliament is duty bound to offer him because of its hidebound rules.
And the Scottish Parliament could also benefit by introducing a Power of Recall over MSPs - a power that already exists in the Westminster Parliament and which has been used to good effect recently, of course.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/scotland/disgraced-derek-mackay-gets-12-000-payoff-r5qwx0tzn
Disgraced Derek Mackay gets £12,000 payoff
Derek Mackay resigned over texts he sent to a teenager - Photo KEN JACK/GETTY IMAGES
By Marc Horne - The Times
Derek Mackay, the former finance secretary, is set to receive a £12,000 severance payment this week, despite not being seen in public for three months.
Mr Mackay resigned from Nicola Sturgeon’s cabinet in February after it emerged he sent 270 messages to a 16-year-old boy including one in which he said: “I think you are really cute.”
He is entitled to a severance payment of £11,945 — the equivalent of three months’ cabinet salary — for losing ministerial office. This sum is paid out by the Scottish parliament after 90 days.
Mr Mackay has earned more than £15,000 as the MSP for Renfrewshire North & West since early February.
There is no mechanism to remove him from Holyrood, and he remains entitled to his £64,470 salary as an MSP. If he continues as an MSP until the next Holyrood elections, he will also be entitled to about £50,000 as a “resettlement grant”.
A Scottish Conservative spokesman said: “Given the circumstances of his resignation, it’s pretty outrageous Derek Mackay is due a ministerial payout.”
Mr Mackay failed to respond when asked if he intended to accept the payment, or give it to charity.
A Holyrood spokesman said: “The Scottish parliamentary corporate body has no discretion in relation to the making of payments.”
Derek Mackay, the former finance secretary, is set to receive a £12,000 severance payment this week, despite not being seen in public for three months.
Mr Mackay resigned from Nicola Sturgeon’s cabinet in February after it emerged he sent 270 messages to a 16-year-old boy including one in which he said: “I think you are really cute.”
He is entitled to a severance payment of £11,945 — the equivalent of three months’ cabinet salary — for losing ministerial office. This sum is paid out by the Scottish parliament after 90 days.
Mr Mackay has earned more than £15,000 as the MSP for Renfrewshire North & West since early February.
There is no mechanism to remove him from Holyrood, and he remains entitled to his £64,470 salary as an MSP. If he continues as an MSP until the next Holyrood elections, he will also be entitled to about £50,000 as a “resettlement grant”.
A Scottish Conservative spokesman said: “Given the circumstances of his resignation, it’s pretty outrageous Derek Mackay is due a ministerial payout.”
Mr Mackay failed to respond when asked if he intended to accept the payment, or give it to charity.
A Holyrood spokesman said: “The Scottish parliamentary corporate body has no discretion in relation to the making of payments.”
