JACKIE Baillie, Scottish Labour’s deputy leader, was handed donations worth thousands by the SNP grandee Jim Sillars ahead of last year’s Holyrood election.
Figures released by the Electoral Commission show that Sillars, a former SNP deputy leader under Alex Salmond, made two donations to Baillie’s campaign of £1000 each in the run-up to election day.
Jackie Baillie’s seat was seen as a key target for the SNP, who would have returned an outright majority of 65 MSPs had they won it.
Instead, Toni Giugliano (above) was beaten by the Labour incumbent by around 1600 votes as supporters of the other Unionist parties got behind the fiercely pro-Union Baillie.
Speaking to the Daily Record, Sillars was asked if his donation could have helped Baillie win and ultimately deprived the SNP of an outright majority.
"If that was a consequence of it, so be it,” he told that paper.
Sillars, who represented Glasgow Govan and the SNP at Westminster after winning a 1988 by-election, further said that he was still a paid-up member of the party.
He claimed he had donated to Baillie’s campaign amid concerns about a “lack of quality” at Holyrood.
Sillars said: “I don’t think there is any doubt she is an asset to the parliament. My concern, in donating to Jackie Baillie, was to have a very able person in parliament.
"I didn't want someone with considerable ability to disappear."
Sillars had been a member of Labour, and an MP for the party, from 1970-1976.
A Scottish Labour spokesperson thanked him for “helping Dumbarton return a proven champion in Jackie Baillie MSP.
They added: "Even the most ardent Scottish Nationalists know that the SNP cannot deliver MSPs that will stand up to the Scottish Government and for the communities that they serve."
Giugliano was quoted as saying: "Mr Sillars has more in common with Jackie Baillie than he does with the SNP these days - so I’m not surprised.
"It’s only a matter of time before he’s asked to be the frontman for the next Better Together campaign."
The SNP have been contacted for comment.
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