Tag Archives: cybernats

Caron Lindsay

No, the Liberal Democrats do not owe Police Scotland £800,000 (or any other sum for that matter)

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 19th October 2015 - 8:55 am

Get into an argument with any cybernat and, sooner or later, when you’ve won the argument, you’ll have it thrown at you, a bit like a modern Godwin’s Law, that the Liberal Democrats should pay their £800,000 bill to Police Scotland.

This is all to do with the security arrangements for our conference in Glasgow in 2013. South of the Border, the Home Office picks up these costs. As policing is devolved, the Scottish Government had responsibility and refused to do so. That meant that, apart from a small contribution to cover the costs of accreditation from the UK Government, Police Scotland had to pick up the tab themselves. Nothing to do with us.

Every time I get this, I refer the cybernat in question to this response to a freedom of information request which comprehensively debunks the idea that we owe any money to Police Scotland at all. Read my lips,

By way of explanation, it has been reported in the media that there is an outstanding invoice of £800,000 for this conference; however, this is factually incorrect. No invoice for the policing costs of the conference was ever generated and the Liberal Democrats did not enter into any arrangement with Police Scotland to provide policing.

In case it wasn’t clear the first time:

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged , , and | 40 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • Jason Connor
    I would opt for Christine Jardine. Sidelined by the party upper echelons. She is very likeable, speaks well and is witty. Someone people can relate to. I someti...
  • Jason Connor
    Very well said David. I couldn't agree more...
  • Jason Connor
    Agree with Chris. At least run a robust positive campaign in Holborn. You know like the ones the party used to, remember them...
  • Peter Davies
    "And how do democratic institutions make decisions about technologies evolving faster than the policy frameworks designed to govern them?" That would be the nex...
  • Adam
    Yeah right. Remember when we were all told to go paperless to save the planet? How's that working out!?!...