The Scottish Conservatives have revealed plans to ban the Scottish Government from spending public money on independence planning.
The party’s manifesto, to be published next month, will also pledge to prevent civil servants working on independence papers and abolish the role of cabinet secretary for the constitution.
As John Swinney fixates on his plans to break up the UK at the SNP’s pre-election conference today (Saturday), Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay outlined measures to prevent taxpayers’ resources being abused in pursuit of the Nationalists’ party-political obsession.
The Scottish Conservative proposals would mean an end to public money being spent on the succession of pro-independence propaganda papers produced by the SNP Government in the current parliament.
There would also be an addition to the Scottish Civil Service Code spelling out the neutrality of government employees on the issue of independence, and that they must refuse to carry out work advocating either separation or another referendum.
Findlay warned that Swinney is deadly serious about his ‘secret plan’ for independence if he wins May’s election, as he urged voters up and down the country to back the Scottish Conservatives on their peach ballot to stop an SNP majority.
Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay said: “Scottish taxpayers are sick and tired of SNP ministers squandering their hard-earned cash on pro-independence propaganda.
“It’s outrageous that supposedly neutral civil servants are being forced to work on promoting John Swinney’s lifelong obsession with breaking up the UK.
“Enough is enough, this abuse of government resources must stop – and the Scottish Conservatives’ proposals would ensure it does.
“We’d also dispense with the totally unnecessary role of constitution secretary.
“For years, John Swinney and co have neglected the day job to relentlessly focus on independence and, as a result, our public services are in meltdown and household bills have gone through the roof.
“We know this will intensify if the SNP win in May – because John Swinney has told us he has a ‘secret plan’ for independence. But the public can prevent this happening by voting Scottish Conservative on their peach ballot to stop an SNP majority.”
Notes to editors
Here are the relevant proposals which will be in the Scottish Conservative manifesto:
Propose a new law to ban the Scottish Government from spending money on their push for another independence referendum. The Scottish Government have spent millions of pounds in taxpayer money campaigning for another independence referendum. The Scottish Conservatives will propose a new Bill in the next session of parliament that would ban ministers from spending taxpayers’ money or using civil servants to promote Scottish independence or another referendum.
Introduce a new pledge that all civil servants would have to be neutral on the question of independence when carrying out their work for the Scottish Government. We know that SNP ministers are distracted by their push for independence, but civil servants have carried out work on the nationalists’ campaign for another referendum too. The Scottish Conservatives believe that civil servants should be neutral on constitutional matters. Therefore, we would introduce a new section to the Scottish Civil Service Code making it explicit that civil servants must be neutral on the question of Scottish independence and must refuse to carry out work that advocates for Scottish independence or another referendum.
Abolish the SNP’s role of Cabinet Secretary for the Constitution. The SNP have consistently focused on another push for an independence referendum during their time in government. This is highlighted by the fact the constitution minister is a cabinet-level role. We would abolish this role in its entirety, as we have done in opposition, and replace it with a cabinet secretary focused on economic growth and businesses. This Cabinet Secretary will also assume the other functions held by the current Cabinet Secretary for the Constitution.