Times | Scottish Labour leadership fuels freebies row with Anfield trip
September 23, 2024
Times | Scottish Labour leadership fuels freebies row with Anfield trip
by SafetyStartsHere
6 comments
>Salmon Scotland treats Anas Sarwar and Scottish secretary Ian Murray to VIP visit to watch Liverpool as gifts scandal spreads north of border
>Scottish Labour’s two most senior politicians were treated to free hospitality at a Liverpool FC match as the Westminster freebies scandal spread to Holyrood.
>Anas Sarwar, the party leader north of the border, and Ian Murray, the Scottish secretary, were guests of Salmon Scotland as Liverpool beat Bournemouth 3-0 at Anfield on Saturday.
>The disclosure came on the first day of the UK Labour conference on Merseyside and adds to the list of gifts accepted by Sir Keir Starmer and his team.
>Annie Wells, the Scottish Conservatives deputy chief whip, said: “This revelation will stick in the throats of many. Scottish Labour would like to brand themselves as the party of change, but they seem to be embroiling themselves in the same calamitous manner as the Labour government.
>“Given that Labour have chosen to scrap universal winter fuel payments and despite their protests during the election they are also choosing to hike up taxes, this rapid onset of senior Labour figures accepting freebies is completely unacceptable.
>“Whilst Labour delude themselves that they can deliver real change, their holier-than-thou approach to deflecting from their recent decisions simply won’t wash with the public.”
>Sarwar and Murray are far from alone in attending events with the farmed-fish salmon industry, which produces Britain’s top food export that goes to more than 50 countries.
>Mairi Gougeon, the SNP rural affairs secretary, has been a guest of the industry at rugby matches while Douglas Ross, the outgoing Scottish Conservative leader, attended the Open golf tournament.
>These meetings have been declared on their registers of interest. Sarwar and Murray’s will be added in the coming weeks.
>Starmer’s government has suffered a month of damaging revelations around donations and freebies.
>Last month The Sunday Times reported that Lord Alli, Starmer’s biggest personal donor, had been given a pass for No 10 and had attended a party in the garden for supporters.
>Alli, a television and fast-fashion executive, has provided funds for frontbenchers including Angela Rayner and Bridget Phillipson. He has also provided high-end clothes for Lady Starmer.
>The gifts have led to accusations that Labour is not holding itself to the same standards that it set Tory administrations.
>Scottish Labour said: “Ian and Anas attended as the guests of Scottish Salmon — an important strategic partner in promoting Brand Scotland. All meetings are declared in the usual way.”
>Sarwar admitted that Labour had lost a “generation of talent” by struggling to attract prospective candidates while it was out of power. However, he insisted that the party could attract talent in Scotland to ensure it has strong candidates in the 2026 Holyrood election.
>Murray insisted that Labour had inherited the “worst economic and public service finances situation since the Second World War”.
>He told the BBC: “Our public services are broken, our economy is broken, we’ve got an industrial crisis in some of the sectors in Scotland as well,” adding that there was a £22 billion “black hole” in the public finances that they were unaware of before taking office.
>The SNP declined to comment on Sarwar and Murray’s trip to Anfield. In a separate statement, Kirsty Blackman, the chief whip at Westminster, said Labour’s acceptance of gifts “makes them look completely out of touch, and shows it’s one rule for them and another for the rest of us — austerity for thee but not for me”.
Gifts curry favour – MPs need to be banned from accepting gifts asap. The question is for what purpose has Scottish Salmon gifted MPs tickets? (And what does the EPL have to do with Scotland more to the point?).
They’re all it (Rayner said as much to try and justify all her freebies).
That aside, swinging the axe of austerity whilst accepting £0000s in gifts just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
Labour, SNP, Tory and Green they’re lining their pockets and telling us we’re the issue for thinking it’s not acceptable.
Still pretending “Scottish” Labour is its own party
You’d need to ask why a member of the Scottish Parliament is accepting gift to football matches in England
I really don’t have an issue with the odd trip, it’s how business works and there is nothing wrong in building relationships with business and organisations in a social setting. I doubt an MP will change their votes based on who can get the tickets to an event.
Where it crosses the line is where there could be a suggestion of bribery, selling tennis games with the PM, having a company sponsor the party conference, paying MP’s £100k to write newspaper columns or host “news” shows/pod casts.
One of the big issues the last time Labour were in power was the number of MP’s who had multiple properties voting on legislation that would impact them financially. Again, that is corruption
Unionists turn a blond eye till they buy a campervan.
6 comments
>Salmon Scotland treats Anas Sarwar and Scottish secretary Ian Murray to VIP visit to watch Liverpool as gifts scandal spreads north of border
>Scottish Labour’s two most senior politicians were treated to free hospitality at a Liverpool FC match as the Westminster freebies scandal spread to Holyrood.
>Anas Sarwar, the party leader north of the border, and Ian Murray, the Scottish secretary, were guests of Salmon Scotland as Liverpool beat Bournemouth 3-0 at Anfield on Saturday.
>The disclosure came on the first day of the UK Labour conference on Merseyside and adds to the list of gifts accepted by Sir Keir Starmer and his team.
>Annie Wells, the Scottish Conservatives deputy chief whip, said: “This revelation will stick in the throats of many. Scottish Labour would like to brand themselves as the party of change, but they seem to be embroiling themselves in the same calamitous manner as the Labour government.
>“Given that Labour have chosen to scrap universal winter fuel payments and despite their protests during the election they are also choosing to hike up taxes, this rapid onset of senior Labour figures accepting freebies is completely unacceptable.
>“Whilst Labour delude themselves that they can deliver real change, their holier-than-thou approach to deflecting from their recent decisions simply won’t wash with the public.”
>Sarwar and Murray are far from alone in attending events with the farmed-fish salmon industry, which produces Britain’s top food export that goes to more than 50 countries.
>Mairi Gougeon, the SNP rural affairs secretary, has been a guest of the industry at rugby matches while Douglas Ross, the outgoing Scottish Conservative leader, attended the Open golf tournament.
>These meetings have been declared on their registers of interest. Sarwar and Murray’s will be added in the coming weeks.
>Starmer’s government has suffered a month of damaging revelations around donations and freebies.
>Last month The Sunday Times reported that Lord Alli, Starmer’s biggest personal donor, had been given a pass for No 10 and had attended a party in the garden for supporters.
>Alli, a television and fast-fashion executive, has provided funds for frontbenchers including Angela Rayner and Bridget Phillipson. He has also provided high-end clothes for Lady Starmer.
>The gifts have led to accusations that Labour is not holding itself to the same standards that it set Tory administrations.
>Scottish Labour said: “Ian and Anas attended as the guests of Scottish Salmon — an important strategic partner in promoting Brand Scotland. All meetings are declared in the usual way.”
>Sarwar admitted that Labour had lost a “generation of talent” by struggling to attract prospective candidates while it was out of power. However, he insisted that the party could attract talent in Scotland to ensure it has strong candidates in the 2026 Holyrood election.
>Murray insisted that Labour had inherited the “worst economic and public service finances situation since the Second World War”.
>He told the BBC: “Our public services are broken, our economy is broken, we’ve got an industrial crisis in some of the sectors in Scotland as well,” adding that there was a £22 billion “black hole” in the public finances that they were unaware of before taking office.
>The SNP declined to comment on Sarwar and Murray’s trip to Anfield. In a separate statement, Kirsty Blackman, the chief whip at Westminster, said Labour’s acceptance of gifts “makes them look completely out of touch, and shows it’s one rule for them and another for the rest of us — austerity for thee but not for me”.
Scottish Salmon’s CEO is former LibDem MSP Tavish Scott. One of its goals is to convince folk that the salmon industry is lovely, [despite high mortality rates](https://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2024/09/22/ten-scottish-salmon-farms-reported-over-50-mortality-in-2023/), [the risk their pollution has for wild salmon](https://theferret.scot/fish-farms-high-risk-wild-salmon/) and [spiralling pollution](https://theferret.scot/salmon-farm-pollution-rise/)
Gifts curry favour – MPs need to be banned from accepting gifts asap. The question is for what purpose has Scottish Salmon gifted MPs tickets? (And what does the EPL have to do with Scotland more to the point?).
They’re all it (Rayner said as much to try and justify all her freebies).
That aside, swinging the axe of austerity whilst accepting £0000s in gifts just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
Labour, SNP, Tory and Green they’re lining their pockets and telling us we’re the issue for thinking it’s not acceptable.
Still pretending “Scottish” Labour is its own party
You’d need to ask why a member of the Scottish Parliament is accepting gift to football matches in England
I really don’t have an issue with the odd trip, it’s how business works and there is nothing wrong in building relationships with business and organisations in a social setting. I doubt an MP will change their votes based on who can get the tickets to an event.
Where it crosses the line is where there could be a suggestion of bribery, selling tennis games with the PM, having a company sponsor the party conference, paying MP’s £100k to write newspaper columns or host “news” shows/pod casts.
One of the big issues the last time Labour were in power was the number of MP’s who had multiple properties voting on legislation that would impact them financially. Again, that is corruption
Unionists turn a blond eye till they buy a campervan.