What expensive gifts did Scottish politicians proclaim?

Gifts received by Scottish politicians are coming under scrutiny following the furor over gifts received by senior Labour figures.

These items, sometimes worth thousands of pounds, must be declared on the public record.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar announced the highest donation of £10,117.48, closely followed by Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross with £10,28.72.

Government ministers are not on the same list but are still required to make declarations.

There has been criticism over senior Labour Party members, including the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, accepting donations of clothing and other gifts.

It has emerged that Sir Keir Starmer received more than £16,000 from Labour peer Waheed Ali for work clothes and glasses, as well as donations for his wife.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves was also given clothing, and Deputy First Minister Angela Rayner stayed at a Labour donor’s New York apartment for a “personal break”.

By comparison, Scottish politicians receive relatively small amounts of gifts.

Among the items listed on Mr Sarwar’s register of interests are entertainment tickets to the Royal Military Tattoo, totalling £4,718.48 since 2021.

SNP, Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Labour MSPs have also accepted the tattoo ticket.

Mr Sarwar also attended the Scotland v England football match at Hampden in 2023 as a guest of the Scottish Football Association, for which the cost of tickets and entertainment was quoted as £399.

He also reportedly attended Saturday’s match between Liverpool and Bournemouth alongside Scotland minister Ian Murray.

Douglas Ross’s declaration includes tickets to the 2022 British Open golf tournament (worth £1,000) and Wimbledon tickets (worth £475).

The most expensive item on the list was £7,856.24 for a visit to Qatar in October 2021 to “meet with ministers and officials” from the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs, paid for by the ministry.

His declaration does not include assistant referee fees or expenses.

Neil Gray, the health secretary, who also has responsibility for sport, was gifted three hospitality tickets to the World Indoor Athletics Championships last year, worth £150.

Cabinet member Kate Forbes attended the 2024 Calcutta Cup match at Murrayfield as guests of Heineken with her husband, worth £400.

Conservative county councillors Russell Findlay and Murdo Fraser received tickets to Celtic’s 1-0 win over Rangers at Hampden in the Scottish Cup semi-final last April – a gift that cost each Conservative councillor £390.

Other MSPs also accepted tickets for horse racing and music prizes.

It is not uncommon or prohibited for politicians to receive gifts, but there are rules they must follow.

There are two types of gifts that members must register: Gifts that exceed 0.5% of a member’s salary must be registered if they are likely to affect the member’s role.

If multiple small donations from the same source exceed this limit, they must also be registered.

Gifts of over £1,500 made to support political activities also need to be declared.

Political gifts include property, money, entertainment, etc. It does not include gifts received personally or from a spouse.

There is no indication that any MSPs have failed to follow these rules.

Asked about his statement, Anas Sarwar told BBC Scotland News that “everything is fair” and transparent.

He said: “For example, many of the events I attended as leader of Scottish Labour were attended by First Ministers and yet they did not declare it in quite the same way.”

“If we’re talking about sporting events, I’ve been to sporting events with the leaders of every other political party and I’ve been to sporting events with all three First Ministers during my time in the Scottish Parliament.”

Government officials declare gifts, entertainment and travel just like other MSPs, but if the event is on government business it is recorded in a separate register.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “Gifts made to Ministers in their capacity as Scottish Parliament Members or party members fall within the rules relating to the register of interests of Scottish Parliament Members.”

“When a minister attends an event in an official government capacity, it is recorded as an official event, not as entertainment.”

A revised Scottish ministerial code, due to be published this year, will also include an independent adviser to scrutinise ministers’ declarations and avoid “real or perceived conflicts of interest”.

Analysis by BBC Scotland Political Correspondent Phil Sim

There have been efforts in Scotland to create records of lobbying and gifts, but records are fragmented and sometimes difficult to identify.

There is also a large grey area as to whether a politician is attending an event for “work” purposes as a representative of the people, or in a more personal capacity.

For example, three of the six gifts registered by Anas Sarwar were tickets to the Royal Military Tattoo in Edinburgh – which, unsurprisingly, costs thousands of pounds.

Yet the fact that Humza Yousaf attended the same event last summer as Nicola Sturgeon did the year before is not recorded in either the MSP register or the ministerial register.

There is also no record of Ms Sturgeon attending the Platinum Jubilee concert or the Wimbledon final, apart from the record of her getting her plane ticket back to London.

The Government’s argument will be that ministers’ attendance at such events is not merely out of festive spirit, but is in an official capacity on behalf of the Scottish Government.

The culture minister will be attending all kinds of events for which other officials have to buy tickets, all within the technical scope of his job.

If they were just members of Congress, they would have had to declare it, but maybe they wouldn’t have been invited in the first place.

Thus, the interesting position is that the extent to which MSPs are able to attract businesses is an indicator of their potential influence.

But there is also an imbalance in terms of what exactly is recorded about those who actually hold power.