Greer Questions Shady Tory Donations in North Ayrshire
Green MSP Ross Greer has called on North Ayrshire Conservatives to come clean about a £100,000 donation. An investigation by website OpenDemocracy.net this week posed questions over a donation made in April 2016 by the Irvine Unionist Club to the North Ayrshire Conservative and Unionist Association.
By law, any unincorporated association donating over £25,000 to political parties must be formally registered as a donor, yet the OpenDemocracy investigation revealed that the Irvine Unionist Club, which no longer exists, was never a registered political donor. Additionally, the investigation found that North Ayrshire Conservatives’ Treasurer Bryan Gossman claimed that most of the donation went directly to the central party in Edinburgh.
Ross Greer, MSP for the West of Scotland, demanded clarity from North Ayrshire Tories: “We need the Tories and their local MSP Jamie Greene, to come clean about this donation and answer questions. Where did the money come from? What was it used for? Why was the donor not registered?”
“In a democracy we have a right to transparency in political donations. This protects us from having a system in which rich interests can influence the system from behind a veil of secrecy. The current system is not fit for purpose - it’s laughable that it should take an investigation by journalists to unveil something that raises so many questions. The Government need to bring in a new system quickly.”