SNP splashes £1m in taxpayer cash on ceilidhs and cheese nights in ‘fake embassies'
The Scottish Government is accused of 'squandering' taxpayers' money on lavish events in an attempt to pose as an independent country on the world stage.
A Freedom of Information (FoI) request revealed that hundreds of thousands of pounds were spent on parties in the Scottish Government's network of international offices, dubbed 'pretend' or 'fake' embassies by critics.
In the past five years, officials have held more than 300 events including one on 'period dignity' held in Beijing, a ceilidh on a Brussels roundabout, a joint cheese and whisky party with the Swiss, and a football celebration with the Bavarians.
Among those to have attended the parties include John Swinney, First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon and Humza Yousaf, both former First Ministers, and Angus Robertson, former Culture Secretary.
Criticising the 'outrageous' use of taxpayer money, Scottish Tory MSP Murdo Fraser said: 'Hard-pressed taxpayers will be outraged that the SNP squandered £1 million on boozy events at their pretend embassies.
'While educational standards are plummeting and NHS waiting times are skyrocketing, the SNP are still obsessing over foreign affairs, which is reserved to Westminster.
'We know that these offices are regularly used to push the nationalists' independence obsession. They should be spending money on our overwhelmed public services instead.'
Using FoI laws, the Scottish Tories obtained details of 327 events held by the Scottish Government's nine overseas offices.
As well as food and drink, money was spent on photo booths, merchandise, entertainment, musicians and 'whisky expert services'.
Government ministers attended 60 of the parties, for which the total bill came to more than £950,000.
Last year, the Scottish Government increased spending on its network of offices by £800,000 to £7.8 million. Scotland's biggest office, accounting for a third of the total budget, is in London.
In the same year, the Scottish Government was forced to introduce emergency spending controls in an attempt to balance the books.
Civil servants were banned from travelling between Glasgow and Edinburgh to cut costs while Shona Robison, the finance secretary, ordered wide-ranging cutbacks affecting prisons, health, multiple quangos and support for Ukrainian refugees to allow public sector pay deals to be struck.
The SNP has long argued that Scotland's 'embassies', the first of which was opened under the Conservatives in Brussels in 1992, help boost international visitor numbers and attract jobs to the country.
There are now seven such offices in: Copenhagen, Brussels, Washington, Ottawa, Paris, Dublin, and Berlin.
About one in 10 of the parties were Burns Suppers, celebrating Scotland's national bard.
Many of these were hosted at British embassies or at Scotland House in the heart of Brussels but one, for Burns Night, was held on a roundabout.
The peak of annual spending
The Beijing 'period dignity' event – at a cost of £3,110 – came as Scotland tried to capitalise on global attention for the UK Government's policies of providing free feminine products.
Annual spending on parties peaked at more than £300,000 in 2023, just as Scotland secured its second highest number of direct foreign investments, according to the accountants EY.
The term 'embassy' is conventionally only used for the diplomatic missions of sovereign states, however local, regional and devolved administrations may have their own international relations.
Labour-run Wales has 21 offices in 12 countries. The Welsh Conservatives are calling for these to be closed.
A Scottish government spokesman said its international network delivers 'tangible benefits to Scotland's people, businesses and institutions' claiming the offices support £1.73 billion in forecast export sales and more than 8,500 jobs across 20 local authorities in 2022-23.
The spokesman added: 'As reported in June, nearly one-in-six inward investment projects in the UK last year was secured in Scotland, according to new data published by EY.
'The record share of the market cements the country's position as the UK's top destination outside of London.'
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