JOHN Swinney has said he has been “assured” by his staff that no stamps bought on Holyrood expenses were used for party campaigning.
The SNP is currently under investigation by Scottish Parliament officials following a complaint that public money was being used for election material.
Reports on Sunday suggest Swinney’s own office manager had said the “stamp fairy is very useful when it comes to campaigns” in a WhatsApp group chat with other office managers.
Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, the First Minister said: “I’ve obviously discussed this with my staff and I’ve been assured that no parliamentary stamps that have been provided by Parliament have been used to support election purposes.”
He added that the office manager’s “stamp fairy” comment was a “humourous remark made in a WhatsApp channel”.
“What’s important is the reassurance that I’ve had, that parliamentary stamps have not been used for election purposes,” Swinney continued.
He later said he was “confident” there has not been any use of public money to prop up the SNP’s campaign.
Kuenssberg then challenged Swinney about “standards” in the SNP, after the party’s former chief executive Peter Murrell was charged with embezzlement.
The First Minister responded: “We've had a tough time, Laura, and I've acknowledged that on a constant basis since I became First Minister just about seven weeks ago.
“I've been very candid about the fact that the SNP has had a tough time, and that my job is to rebuild the trust between the public of Scotland and the SNP.”
He added: “I’ve always acknowledged in the representation of the people who have chosen me to go to parliament, that you’ve got to work constantly to build the trust that you experience with members of the public.
“That’s exactly what I will do as leader of the SNP and as the First Minister of Scotland.”
