MINISTERS who resign in disgrace will be allowed to keep “golden goodbyes” worth thousands of pounds, after Holyrood bosses backed away from reforming the system.
MSPs on the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body decided to leave it to the conscience of any future scoundrels and incompetents as to whether they repaid the money instead.
The SPCB discussed the issue after The Herald revealed former childcare minister Mark McDonald was paid a £7,270 “resettlement grant” despite resigning over alleged sexual misconduct, and admitting he had caused a woman “considerable distress and upset”.
He received the money automatically, as all ministers are legally entitled to a quarter of their ministerial salary when they leave office, regardless of the circumstances.
The Aberdeen Donside MSP has not been at parliament since, but continues to draw his £62,000 MSP salary.
Holyrood could have updated the 2009 law involved to introduce an element of discretion, but chose to stick with the status quo.
A Holyrood spokesperson said: “The SPCB discussed the provisions for the payment of resettlement grants to office-holders and noted that, under the terms of the legislation, it had no discretion in relation to the making of payments.
“They agreed not to review the terms of the scheme at this point and noted it was a matter for individual MSPs whether to accept any payments made."
Labour MSP Rhoda Grant said: "Mark McDonald resigned in disgrace from his ministerial position.
“It is now essential that he does the right thing and donates the pay-off he has received as a result of his resignation to charity – and preferably one that supports the victims of harassment.”
James Price, campaign manager at the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: “Only in the public sector do people expect to receive these golden goodbyes - huge amounts of taxpayers' cash just for leaving their job.
"These are highly unfair anyway, but when someone is leaving under a cloud the whole practice is shown up for the mockery it is. These gross handouts to bureaucrats and politicians should cease immediately.“
The SNP, which suspended Mr McDonald on November 16, has been investigating complaints against him for more than 100 days.
The Sun reported yesterday that party figures had pressured one female complainer not to confront Nicola Sturgeon at Holyrood about the lack of results from the probe.
The SNP said the woman had denied any such thing happened.
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