FURTHER pressure is being put on the Scottish Tories to come clean about their use of “dark money”.
It could result in the appearance of the former vice-chair of the Scottish Conservatives before a Westminster committee investigating “disinformation” and “fake news”.
The call for Richard Cook to give evidence has been made by SNP MP Brendan O’Hara who sits on the Committee for Culture, Media and Sport. He has written to the committee’s chair, Damien Collins, recommending that Cook should be summoned following an investigation into the funding of the Leave campaign by BBC Spotlight Northern Ireland.
EXPLAINED: What is the Scottish Tory 'dark money' scandal?
“It is imperative that we have a full understanding of his role in how the Constitutional Research Council processed £435,000 to the Democratic Unionist Party and whether he booked the infamous Metro advertisement for Vote Leave,” said O’Hara.
“I believe there are still many serious, unanswered questions about the source of this money and what it was used for by the DUP in the referendum campaign.”
The SNP has said the revelations add further weight to the need for the Electoral Commission to fully investigate the Scottish Unionist Association Trust, and its possible ties to the Leave campaign and the Scottish Conservatives. SNP MP Pete Wishart has previously written to the Electoral Commission calling for a full investigation, and has urged Ruth Davidson to come clean over the Tories’ “dark money”.
READ MORE: 'Dark money' helped Tory Minister David Mundell get re-elected in 2017
The SNP support giving new powers to the Electoral Commission, to provide it with higher sanctioning powers, increasing the maximum penalty from £20,000 to £1,500,000.
O’Hara’s call also follows reports that Scottish Secretary David Mundell failed to declare financial support he received from the trust which helped pay for his campaign manager for the last two General Elections, at a cost of £3488 in 2015 and £2400 in 2017.
O’Hara added that Ruth Davidson cannot continue “hiding away and avoiding the “calls for clarity”.
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