MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS.

This is the email all SNP members were sent to explain where the “missing” almost 600K that was ring fenced for Indyref2 . My Comments follow after.

Net balance sheet £271k

Cash 97k

I want to be fair so I have started this blog with the email sent to members yesterday in response to the mounting questions being asked about the almost 600k in ring fenced donations for Indyref2. I have reproduced it in full and without any alteration.

It does however unfortunately raise more questions than it answers

It does not explain under what heading or headings the restricted funds are held under. There is a good reason for this.
It states the monies are “woven” through the overall income funding each year. I am sorry but that is an admission the money is being used for everyday SNP activities, which was specifically what the two appeals were NOT purposed for. They were “ring fenced” for Indyref2 spending only.
The most interesting phrasing however was the line “the current Referendum Fund has a balance of £ 593,501 and we can fully deploy those funds instantly” All this tells us is the ledger shows the Party has a internal liability of that sum to the fund and it has an overdraft facility that can replace the money if it is needed. What would happen if the bank refused to advance the money at that crucial moment is not explained?( more later) It does not show as a liability in the accounts because the SNP have claimed sole ownership of the newly named fund and it only becomes a liability in the accounts if a referendum is called. In other words when a Section 30 is granted. I will leave readers to make the jump in their heads about why not everyone might not be too unhappy with the current position. This might yet prove a legal problem as well as many non members made donations to that fund on the basis that it was for Indyref2 , not day to day SNP EXPENDITURE.
The SNP are engaged in trying to blow a lot of smoke over this. The fund has a new name, only created in the last week or two, notice the change of language, no talk of “ring fenced” funds anymore, the words “earmarked for the referendum” now appears in its place. Those two phrases mean very different things. Ring fenced means for that sole purpose and that was the phrasing used to raise the money. Earmarked is much more loose and suggests options that can change
Finally I can state with absolute certainty that all the money is not woven into these accounts. How can I do that? Well the accounts show just under 97k is held in cash and the overall net balance of the entire Party accounts only amounts to 271k. There is no hiding place for almost 600k lurking in any place within the statutory accounting and reporting rules relating to the SNP. It’s impossible for it all to be still there!

It is that 271k figure that explains it all. If the almost 600k “earmarked money” was not woven through the accounts (in reality mostly spent) the accounts would show the Party was bust last year with a deficit of 329k {600 minus 271).

This is just another example of why I get so angry with this leadership. 2019 was a difficult year with an unexpected General Election called. It is understandable funds were stretched. It would not have been right, but an honest admission that the fund was used as an emergency measure and it would be urgently replaced, while not good, would be a lot more acceptable and honest that this attempted misleading of members. Anyone who has ever looked at even the most basic accounts knows the money is largely gone. Yes it can be replaced quickly through borrowing but it is still gone and spent against the clearest commitments made when the money was raised. Once again attempts to disguise have created a possible running sore and the risks of even one non member raising an action in court. It is just crazy behaviour to think they can get away with this. Trust is crucial in fundraising. Breaking trust endangers all future appeals. This should not have happened. It harms the Indyref2 campaign.

As one example, the few paragraphs I wrote yesterday about the accounts would have been the end of it as far as I was concerned but the National Treasurer’s Email to the membership has now ensured that this issue will now run and today my blog is totally devoted to the matter, as will others.

Truth, honesty and transparency and we bloggers disappear, or we praise. It’s a much happier option for all of us. Why not try it?

A final point is this, I was recording a podcast last evening for Barrhead Boy’s Through a Scottish Prism Podcast along with Jason Michael. In the course of the programme we were reminded that in Catalonia when they organised their Referendum, the Spanish Government seized all the bank accounts. Should we be holding all our funds within the UK is another question we should be discussing? What guarantee is there that any overdraft facility would be there in an unofficial referendum situation for instance?

Now I don’t think you would have received this cheery and uplifting message from the National Treasurer if he was telling you thIs whole story…do you?

I am, as always

YOURS FOR SCOTLAND

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