SCOTTISH Conservative leader Ruth Davidson has become the first MSP to be fined by the UK Electoral Commission after failing to declare on time almost £15,000 of donations to her leadership campaign.
The commission last week issued a report stating Ms Davidson twice broke electoral law by missing the 30-day deadline for registering two donations totalling £14,500 in October.
The Glasgow MSP was fined £400, with each offence punished by a fixed penalty of £200. She paid the fine on May 11. Wendy Alexander, the former Scottish Labour leader who resigned in 2008 after accepting an illegal donation, was only forced to forfeit it, and was not fined.
Kenneth Gibson MSP, convener of the Scottish Parliament's Finance Committee, said: "This is a humiliation for Ruth Davidson and another blow for her flagging leadership.
"With the Tories leading the No campaign, this raises serious concerns about the financing of the anti- independence camp if they can't even be trusted with adhering to financial rules in small internal campaigns.
"The Tories will be wondering if they voted for the wrong leader and the anti-independence parties must be cringing reading the papers. It's also a further setback for the Tories after their feeble showing at the council elections in May when their vote fell back in Scotland even from their low water mark of 2007."
Ms Davidson, 33, became Tory leader in November after a bitter and divisive contest triggered by the resignation of Annabel Goldie in May 2011.
John Lamont, Ms Davidson's campaign manager, said: "Ruth referred the donations to the Electoral Commission as soon as the error was realised and assisted them at all points."
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