Ruth Davidson is to be probed by Holyrood bosses after she was caught campaigning on the Scottish Parliamentary estate in breach of strict rules.
One of the Scots Tory leader’s constituents has written to Sir Paul Grice, Chief Executive of the Scottish Parliament, to say a campaign video created for Heart Scotland radio station has clearly been filmed in Holyrood.
The SNP said Davidson’s blatant breach of parliamentary rules showed “just how arrogant she is”.
In the clip, Davison says: “At these local elections it’s important that people really weigh up what is happening out there.
“Politics is all about priorities. We say that it’s important to have a local champion that’s going to make sure that all the time and investment is spent on local services. Making our schools, hospitals and local services better rather than dragging the country back to another independence referendum.
“So you know, every time you vote Conservative we’ll stand up for the decision we made as a country and that you’ll get someone in your community prepared to work hard to take powers back from Holyrood, keep them at a local level, make decisions locally really affecting your life and your family’s life.”
Davidson’s constituent, who has asked not to be named, says this is in breach of Holyrood’s Corporate Body’s guidelines which states “Parliamentary resources must not be used for electioneering or campaigning,” and that “recording/filming/photography of a party-political nature or for party political purposes is not permitted within the building.”
An SNP spokesperson: "Ruth Davidson should know better - but this shameless use of her publicly-funded parliamentary office to campaign for the upcoming elections shows just how arrogant she is."
The Tories said this was “nonsense” and pointed out that Labour leader Kezia Dugdale and Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie had also filmed their pieces for Heart Scotland in the Scottish Parliament.
"This is a nonsense complaint from the SNP, which clearly has too much time on its hands," a Tory spokesman said.
A Scottish Parliament spokesman said: “As a matter of policy we do not comment upon or confirm whether a complaint has been made.”
He added: “In circumstances where a complaint is made, our normal practice is to contact the Member concerned for their response in order to help establish whether there is basis to the complaint. We would then respond to the complainant thereafter with our decision on the matter
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