THE House of Lords is “good business” for Scottish Labour , it has been claimed, as figures reveal peers were paid more than their Tory counterparts during the pandemic.
The National analysed the amount of cash claimed by members of the House of Lords who are registered as living in Scotland between April 2020 and July 2021.
In the 16 month period under analysis, the 40 peers claimed £962,526 in daily allowances and expenses.
But, when the peers are divided up by party, another picture emerges.
READ MORE: 40 Scottish peers claim 'eye-watering' almost £1m during Covid-19 pandemic
Of the 40 peers in our analysis, Labour has 13, the Tories 11, nine members serve as cross-bench, three as non-affiliated, three LibDems and the Lord Speaker, who is expected to remain politically impartial.
Labour peers, who are registered as living in Scotland, claimed the most combined with £349,827 in both daily allowance and expenses.
This is over £90,000 more than Tory peers based in Scotland - who claimed £259,471 in total.
Crossbench peers raked in a combined £213,254, LibDem peers claimed £88,019, and non-affiliated £39,704, while the Lord Speaker claimed £12,251 in expenses only.
Asked if he found it surprising that Labour peers claimed the most during this period, SNP MP Pete Wishart *pictured above) said: “It is given that Labour as a political feature in Scotland and Westminster in terms of democratic representation is next to zero.
“Obviously they’ve sought to compensate for this in the House of Lords. It was always a career trajectory for Labour MPs that they would serve a good time in parliament and then be ennobled and put into the House of Lords.
“This is business which is good for the Labour party and former Labour MPs.”
One Labour peer, Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (pictured above), also topped the list for the biggest claim of combined allowance and expenses, £64,643, and for the highest daily allowance alone, £55,936.
Foulkes recently made headlines by calling for the UK Government to reign in Holyrood’s spending in reserved areas, claiming that the SNP are using public funds to further the independence campaign and using the Scottish Parliament as a vehicle to promote independence from Westminster.
Wishart noted the irony of Foulke’s comments whilst also coming out on top as the biggest claim.
He said: “After George’s [Foulkes] recent comments about reigning in the spending of the Scottish Parliament, maybe he could think about reigning in his own expenses himself.
READ MORE: Which Scottish peers claimed the most during Covid-19 crisis?
“The Scottish Parliament is democratically elected and speaks for our nation, George Foulkes speaks for absolutely no one and wasn’t elected.”
The Scottish Labour peers cash claims for both daily allowance and expenses are as follows; Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale (£62,157), Lord Elder (£53,383), Lord Maxton (£38,288), Baroness Ramsay of Cartvale (£32,486), Lord Robertson of Port Ellen (£18,858), Baroness Liddell of Coatdyke (£16,979), Lord McAvoy (£16,661), Baroness Adams of Craiglea (£13,726), Lord Mackenzie of Culkein (£10,548), Lord Haworth (£10,206), Baroness Smith of Gilmorehill (£9558) and Lord Soley (£2334).
Scottish Labour did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
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