The SNP Government has been accused of “fleecing the taxpayer” after it spent over £10m on external legal advice amid a spate of failed court cases. Nationalist Ministers racked up the huge bill for law help despite having a dozen in-house lawyers and counsel who offer the same service.
It has been a couple of years of court failures for the Executive and embattled Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain who has lost a number of high profile cases, including about Scottish independence and over gender reforms. The government were also defeated by the Scottish Information Commissioner in just seconds after a secrecy row.
And SNP Ministers are embroiled in two ongoing cases about the deposit return scheme failures and about how to define a woman. It has been a costly exercise for the taxpayer who is forced to fork out for these cases no matter if they end up in a win or more frequently a loss.
According to a freedom of information request by the Scottish Daily Express, the Scottish Government racked up a huge £10m plus bill on external legal advice between April 2023 and May 2024. This included advice on the likes of the Alex Salmond secrecy row as well as gender reforms.
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The total spend amounted to £10.2m, with this being split by department. The Education and Justice department spent the bulk of this cash, at £7m, with Corporate listing a £1.5m bill, Net Zero a £1m one, and the likes of Communities and Economy also paying out over £100,000.
This cost to the public purse was slated by the Scottish Tories. Deputy Leader Rachael Hamilton told the Scottish Daily Express: “It’s outrageous that the SNP have fleeced the taxpayer out of a whopping £10m to spend fighting their legal battles.
Tory MSP Rachael Hamilton
“Much of this has been racked up on vain and ultimately doomed SNP cases, such as defending the botched deposit return scheme. It’s just common sense that this money should have spent on Scotland’s ailing public services or used to cut taxes for hard-pressed Scots, instead of defending the SNP’s litany of failures.”
The Scottish Government fought a number of high-profile court cases during this time, including attempting to force through gender reforms. The Tory UK Government blocked legislation which would have allowed trans people to legally change gender without the need of a medical certificate if they lived that way for a minimum of three months.
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Ms Bain fought this at the Court of Session as she insisted that former Scottish Secretary Alister Jack acted irrationally by using a Section 35 to block it from becoming law. But she was torn apart by the UK Government’s counsel who pointed out that it was “highly problematic” to have two different gender recognition systems within the UK.
SNP Ministers were also humiliated at the same court in December last year when judges took just seconds to decide that they did hold information about Nicola Sturgeon’s conduct during the botched probe into Alex Salmond’s sexual misconduct. The secretive Scottish Government even ignored legal advice not to take the Scottish Information Commissioner to court as they would likely lose.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “Lawyers support the work of the Scottish Government and associated agencies by providing legal advice and assistance on the full range of Government activities and are an integral part of the commitment to maintaining the rule of law at the heart of government.”
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