Tom Gordon
The SNP will today challenge Tory International Development Secretary Justine Greening to justify spending foreign aid on a pro-Union spindoctor in Scotland.
The Department for International Development (Dfid) recently advertised a £41,000-a-year job in East Kilbride to help “communicate the benefits of the Union to the Scottish public”.
SNP MP Patrick Grady has now established the cost will count towards the UK target of spending 0.7 per cent of gross national income on overseas development assistance.
Greening will boast about the UK’s aid record at the Tory conference today.
East Kilbride SNP MSP Linda Fabiani said: “That the UK Government is willing to spend thousands of pounds of public money funding a nakedly political post to promote the Union is quite incredible – but coming out of money intended for international aid is nothing less than a scandal.”
International Development minister Desmond Swayne said the post-holder would be expected “to communicate how Scotland - as part of the UK - is a world leader in international development, working with stakeholders, staff, the media and others to explain the work of Dfid. This is in line with the recommendation by the cross-party International Development Committee that Dfid 'give higher priority to making its work known across Scotland'."
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