Alex Salmond’s on the gravy plane
Last updated at 17:21, Wednesday, 22 August 2012
ONE would think that after the expenses scandal of recent years, today’s politicians and civil servants would exercise some self-restraint when it comes to spending taxpayers’ money.
Not in Scotland, it would appear. Since the Scottish National Party came to power five years ago, ministers and their civil servants have spent a cool £8.4m jetting round the world at our expense – often in first class luxury.
According to figures released this week under freedom of information requests, Scottish officials have made a staggering 32,000 flights in the past five years, more than 4,000 of which were business class or first class.
Considering that some Scots have a reputation for being somewhat reluctant to spend their own money, it is galling to see Scottish first minister Alex Salmond, his ministers and various civil servants, so blatantly squandering our money on such indulgences as first class air travel.
Mr Salmond spent an eye-watering £48,000 taking himself and an entourage of hangers-on to Los Angeles recently to attend the US premiere of the Disney animated movie, Brave.
If anything serves to illustrate the rank hypocrisy of some of our political class, it is this sort of thing.
This is the same Alex Salmond who just last month accused the UK government of jeopardising green energy because of delays in setting renewable energy subsidy levels.
Hmm. First class flights all over the world and £560-a-pop shuttle flights between Edinburgh and London. How very eco-friendly of Mr Salmond.
All of which leads me to think that maybe Scottish independence isn’t such a bad thing after all. Think of the money we English taxpayers will be able to divert to, say, the NHS, school sports facilities, pensions and such fripperies, if we no longer have to pay for Alex Salmond’s tickets to Hollywood. And I’d like to bet a haggis to a deep-fried Mars Bar that such excesses will go down like a lead sporran if the Scots are left to pick up the bill.
To those of us struggling through the recession, there are few things more unedifying than witnessing MPs and civil servants jumping so shamelessly onto the taxpayer-funded gravy train. Or, in the case of those globe-trotting Scottish politicians, gravy plane.
First published at 16:33, Wednesday, 22 August 2012
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk
What an idiot.
Putting aside the total waste of a non-essential £48,000 of tax payers money, after complaining about the British Government jeapordising GREEN energy because of delays - what about the carbon footprint of Salmond and his entourage on a cross atlantic jaunt of this type?
Hypocrite.
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Johnmcdonaldish - Tourists know where Scotland is without Salmond jetting round the world telling them.Just what industries is he promoting? And if Independance is force upon us Salmond will immediatly close the Trident Sub base at Faslane making some 6,000 skilled people redundant.Thus adding to to the already high unemployment rate up here.
Posted by wbrown on 28 August 2012 at 01:14