SNP ministers were under fire last night after it emerged they have plundered £800,000 from Scottish Water’s budget to spend on the independence referendum.
Critics said the decision to use the cash to fund an army of spin doctors, instead of improvements in key policy areas such as health and education, showed that the Scottish Government’s priorities were wrong.
The accounting change in the infrastructure, investment and cities budget was identified in the government’s revised spending plans.
Ministers confirmed that the extra money, which came from increased interest receipts from short-term loans used by Scottish Water, had “been deployed to support strategic communications”.
A spokesman for the Conservatives claimed First Minister Alex Salmond was “focused on the referendum and the daily issues and concerns of people over police station closures, the NHS and education are being sidelined in favour of his obsession”.
North-east Labour MSP Lewis Macdonald said the situation effectively meant “fewer water engineers and more spin doctors” during the winter months, despite concerns about flooding and leaks.
He added: “The SNP have the wrong priorities because rather than spending money on what people need, they are spending money on what ministers want. They are raiding the budget of the business that looks after water and spending it on spin doctors. If anyone doubted that the SNP have put Scotland on pause, this is perfect proof.”
A government spokesman said there had been no change to the cost of the referendum on September 18. “The total cost is estimated to be around £13.7million, with £800,000 of that being spent this year, and the rest spent in 2014-15,” she added.
“Strategic communications spending covers a wide range of important information campaigns, including those on organ donation, cancer awareness and other public information initiatives which help deliver key government objectives.
“Details on any public information activity regarding the white paper will be announced in due course.”