The cost of living crisis continues to afflict Brits across the country – but it would appear that Scottish government ministers aren’t having such a bad time of it. In fact SNP ministers will see their pay packets boosted by a whopping £20,000 after First Minister John Swinney’s government ended a voluntary pay freeze on salaries in a move the FM says was based on ‘fairness’. Not everyone is impressed by the decision, however, with opposition politicians slamming it as a ‘reward for failure’. Even SNP backbencher Fergus Ewing has taken a pop at party colleagues over the issue – tweeting this afternoon: ‘I read that Scottish government ministers are to get a £20,000 pay rise; is this April the first?’ Ouch.
In 2009, former first minister Alex Salmond introduced a pay freeze for Scottish government ministers after the economic crash. It meant that ministers in Holyrood didn’t take their full combined salary – made up of their MSP pay and a ministerial salary – leading to public savings of over £2 million.
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