Humza Yousaf’s use of public funds to push for Scottish independence is completely unjustifiable – and it is right that the UK Government’s most senior civil servant is probing the situation, a former shadow minister has said.
Tom Harris was speaking after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak backed the investigation, launched by Simon Case, the head of the civil service, recently.
Mr Case opted to act after concerns were voiced by among others Alister Jack, Secretary of State for Scotland and Labour MP George Foulkes MP.
Mr Harris is a former Labour MP for Glasgow South who served as a Shadow Environment Minister from 2012-13 but has more recently served as an adviser to the Conservatives on Scottish affairs.
Writing in The Telegraph, he said: “The SNP using public funds and civil servants to plot independence is scandalous. This absurdity must be stopped.”
On coming into office, Mr Yousaf had “found all routes to independence closed”, largely as a result of predecessor Nicola Sturgeon’s “Quixotic” decision to seek the opinion of the Supreme Court on the legality of staging a referendum without UK Government permission, Mr Harris explained.
As a result, Mr Yousaf had opted to appoint Jamie Hepburn as Minister for Independence in order to keep the issue on the agenda, Mr Harris pointed out, as well as publishing a series of papers pushing the idea.
He continued: “The problem is that these papers aren’t produced by the SNP; they’re researched, written and published by nominally politically neutral Scottish civil servants.
“Bear in mind that the SNP should be able to fund this work itself; its membership donated £600,000 for a second referendum campaign. I can think of no reason why they would not wish to put their hands in their pockets a second time to aid the party’s propaganda efforts.
“Nevertheless, Yousaf has decided that the cost of this pointless exercise would be best borne by the public.”
Historically, Holyrood had permitted public money to be spent furthering the cause of independence, regardless of the objections of those who back the union, Mr Harris said.
He added: “There has rarely been a better time to correct this error. The second referendum has ceased to be. It is an ex-referendum.
“Any work done on this non-existent, or at best hypothetical exercise, should be carried out by party hacks whose time is paid for by gullible or committed party members.”
Scottish Government ministers had just one motivation, namely “to undermine at every possible turn the integrity of the UK”, Mr Harris stressed.
He concluded: “It’s time that the SNP used its own money to do so.”
Mr Case has already said that new guidance could be issued to civil servants working for the Holyrood administration within weeks.
Speaking on Monday, Mr Sunak said: “What’s right is that, as the head of the civil service, it’s Simon Case, the Cabinet Secretary, who conducts a review of that particular situation and I think it’s right that we let that continue.”
Scotland did not need “more constitutional wrangling at this moment in time”, Mr Sunak emphasised.
He added: “It’s about bringing down inflation, easing the burden on the cost of living, it’s about the economy growing, creating jobs as today’s announcement illustrates.
“It’s about cutting waiting lists as we have got strong action to do in England and that’s what I think people would want to see in Scotland as well.
“Those are the issues that are concerning people at the moment, not constitutional wrangling, that’s what I’m focused on delivering as Prime Minister.”
