SNPs failing ministers are urged to turn down eye-watering £20k pay rise

SNP ministers have been urged to turn down an astonishing £20,000 pay rise handed to them at the start of this month.

John Swinney’s ministerial team were quietly given the massive increase in their salaries after previously having earnings frozen since 2009.

But they are now under pressure to forego the extra payment after the First Minister concluded it would not be appropriate for him to accept it.

Opponents said ministers would turn the pay rise down ‘if they accepted just how badly they have performed’.

Mr Swinney was directly responsible for the decision to award his Cabinet and wider ministerial team the increase in pay.

Their earnings will rise by £19,126, taking the salary of a Cabinet Secretary to £116,125 and a junior minister to £100,575.

The Scottish Government last night confirmed Mr Swinney will not take the extra money ‘in order to avoid any perception that he benefits from his own decisions’.

Scottish Conservative finance spokesman Craig Hoy said: ‘The huge salary increase John Swinney has given SNP ministers can’t be related to their performance in office, which has been uniformly dismal.

John Swinney was responsible for the decision to increase ministerial pay

‘Nationalist politicians have made a mess of everything they touch - our NHS, education, housing, policing and transport - while stifling the economy, pushing through savage cuts and making Scotland the highest-taxed part of the UK. 

If they accepted just how badly they have performed they would turn this rise down.

‘That’s why so many Nats expect to be turfed out if they stand in at the next election, and many have already thrown in the towel. 

There’s bound to be speculation that this eye-watering rise is a way of boosting their pensions and payoffs, and getting as much as they can from the hard-pressed taxpayer on their way to the exit.’

The bumper pay rise came into force at the start of this month and was quietly announced by Mr Swinney in a written response to a parliamentary question initiated by the Scottish Government.

A pay freeze for ministers was first announced by former first minister Alex Salmond in 2009.

Since April 2009, ministers have been deducting the difference between their ‘net’ salary entitlement - made up of their MSP pay and their ministerial pay - and their 2009 entitlement, with the surplus donated directly into the public purse.

While the ministerial element of their salaries will stay frozen at 2008-09 levels, the MSP allowance will now be ‘equalised’ with other serving MSPs at £74,507.

The impact of this means each minister will receive £19,126 more than they did in 2024/25.

There are currently 10 members of the Cabinet alongside Mr Swinney, as well as 14 junior ministers - meaning the total cost of the move to taxpayers is set to be £459,024.

In his written parliamentary answer, Mr Swinney said the freeze of the ministerial element of pay ‘will remain in place’, but went on: ‘From April 1, 2025, the MSP element of ministers’ salaries will be equalised with that of MSPs who are not currently serving ministers, providing parity in line with their roles.’

John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: ‘Scots will be absolutely seething at the way in which Ministers are stuffing their pockets with extra taxpayer cash all while front-line services are spluttering and the tax burden is soaring.

‘If these ministers had any shame, they’d be abandoning this pay rise.’

A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘Ministerial and MSP salaries are set and paid by the Scottish Parliament.

‘The MSP element of pay for ministers for 2025-26 will be identical to that of other MSPs.

‘The ministerial element of pay has been frozen for 16 years at 2008-09 levels and this will remain in place for 2025-26.

‘The First Minister has made clear that he will forego the equalisation of the MSP element of his salary in order to avoid any perception that he benefits from his own decisions.’