SCOTTISH Greens chiefs were today urged to “come clean” after being accused of offering access to ministers in exchange for cash.
A document provided for potential sponsors at the party’s conference last year set out the opportunity for those interested to fork out £700 for a lunch at which they would have access to senior Greens.
2
2
It came at a time when the party’s co-leaders, Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater, were Scottish Government ministers – before they were binned by former First Minister Humza Yousaf earlier this year.
Alongside a heading for a sponsored lunch, it said: “Get an exclusive table to talk to ministers, MSPs and members during lunch and advertisement in the conference programme. One observer pass included.”
An amended version of the ad in the sponsorship brochure ahead of this year’s conference, taking place in October, said: “Get an exclusive table to talk to politicians and members during lunch and advertisement in the conference programme.
A Scottish Greens spokesperson said that the party would host charities, campaign groups and other stakeholders at our conference with sponsorship options “where appropriate”.
And they said these would be “in line with rules and regulations” – after concerns the move could contradict Holyrood’s lobbying rules.
The spokesperson added: “The text in this brochure was written ahead of the end of the Bute House Agreement. Future versions will, of course, have an updated text.
“No MSP has been involved in the production of this document.
“When Scottish Green MSPs were ministers, they always declared relevant meetings and discussions as required under the Ministerial code.”
The Scottish Parly code states that MSPs “may participate in events for which others are charged a fee to attend”, but notes there “could be some concern that events falling into this category could be a means of ‘buying’ access to MSPs.
The code then adds: “It is important that there should be no grounds for such a perception.”
Niall Christie, who stood for the party in Glasgow at the general election this year, said there are questions for the party to answer over the sponsorship opportunity.
He said: “It’s undeniable we would be fuming and urging action if this were our political opponents. We should be holding ourselves to the same standard.
“We should be better than this, and should expect more of our leaders than allowing their political positions to be sold for profit.This is a very serious issue and should be treated as such.”
Scottish Tory chairman Craig Hoy hit out: “The pious Greens dole out self-righteousness and outrage when dealing with others so if there is any truth to these claims it would be the height of hypocrisy.
“They should immediately come clean about these accusations and be up front about whether they breached the Lobbying Register rules.”
