SNP call in Police over new 'cash-for-honours scandal'

The Scottish National Party have said they will contact Scotland Yard urging a criminal investigation into claims members of the House of Lords are buying their peerages. SNP MP Angus MacNeil who uncovered the ‘cash for honours’ scandal in 2006 will write to the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police following comments from Lord Oakeshott this week which revealed the practice is still common place. In his resignation statement Lord Oakeshott said, 'my efforts to expose and end cash for peerages in all parties, including our own, and help get the Lords elected have failed.'

Commenting, Angus MacNeil MP said: “Lord Oakeshott's comments are bigger than any admission that emerged through the last cash for honours investigation. I'd be surprised if Scotland Yard did not at least do a scoping investigation on this. I will be writing to request they do so in light of these explosive remarks from Lord Oakeshott."

“His claims resurrects this whole scandal, and we need full disclosure of which members of the House of Lords he is talking about, and what they gave in return for a peerage. Under the Westminster system, we have the ludicrous situation that there are far more legislators who are appointed than elected - and people in Scotland elect only 4 per cent of the Westminster parliamentarians who hold powers over the economy, welfare, defence, our place in Europe, and many other crucial areas of policy."

“The SNP's long-standing position is that we believe those making laws should be elected by the people, and therefore we do not nominate members to the House of Lords. If the rest of the UK want to keep funding the unelected House of Lords, that is a matter for them. A Yes vote means that people in Scotland can get rid of the expensive and unrepresentative Westminster tier - saving around £50 million a year in not sending MPs and peers to London- which means more cost effective and fairer government.”

Peers donated almost £8m to political parties

The Scottish National Party has raised concerns over the number of party donors who have been appointed to the House of Lords and the number of peers who have been inactive, despite claiming daily expenses. It has been revealed in today’s Sunday Mail that the total donated to political parties by peers created 2010-2013 is £7,988,095.02. £50,239.59 was the average donation between 159 peers.

Nearly a quarter of Scottish peers have failed to speak even once in the House of Lords chamber in the past year despite claiming £300 a day just to turn up. According to the attendance records of 63 Scottish members of the Lords, 14 of them have failed to utter a word or table a single written question to the Government in the past 12 months. A further eight peers have spoken only once in the past year.

Commenting, the MP who exposed the cash for honours scandal, Angus MacNeil, said: "When you have a situation where the UK parties see no problem with appointing people to the House of Lords who have donated vast sums to their parties, it is clear that the system is very badly broken. The money involved simply reinforces the public’s perception that if you’re wealthy enough, you can just buy your way into Parliament. A Yes vote for independence means that people in Scotland can get rid of the expensive and unrepresentative Westminster tier - which means better and cheaper government."

Continuing Mr MacNeil said: "The UK parties often promise reform of the Lords, but the cronyism culture just goes on and on with no end in sight. It is an affront to democracy for Westminster to be stacked full of party donors and political apointees when Scotland is able to elect just 4% of Westminster’s parliamentarians. With so many Scottish peers doing so little work, it is clear that they are simply serving their own interests rather than those of people in Scotland. Why should people in Scotland be paying the costs of such an undemocratic body that does so little on their behalf?"

The Scottish National Party has no members of the House of Lords.