THE SNP has agreed to provide a chauffeur-driven car for former leader Alex Salmond.
Party bosses approved the perk. It is believed to be the first time a political party has continued to pick up the tab for a vehicle after a leader has quit.
An SNP source said the car was to take the former First Minister from "A to B" and would save public money through a reduced expenses bill.
The party uses a private-hire firm as and when required.
It was reported last month that the former SNP leader had been using public transport.
"I love public transport but it takes me some time to get around at the moment," he said.
Scottish Tory deputy leader Jackson Carlaw said SNP membership subscriptions were being used to pay for the ex-First Minister's "imperial" lifestyle.
He said: "Considering Alex Salmond seems determined on a new career as the SNP's back-seat driver, it's perhaps no surprise the SNP is splashing out on a chauffeur-driven limousine to ferry him around."
Scottish Labour MP Anne McGuire said: "Alex Salmond stood down months ago but he's still acting like he is First Minister.''
An SNP spokesperson said: "The former First Minister has no access to the Government car service, in contrast to former prime ministers and a number of other UK Government ministers.
"Therefore, his transportation, including to party events, has no impact at all on the public purse."
Why are you making commenting on HeraldScotland only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article