A failed finance firm in the David Cameron lobbying scandal has been accused of trying to get its “claws” into Scotland’s NHS.
Greensill Capital, founded by controversial Australian businessman Lex Greensill, touted a smartphone app to MSPs that allowed NHS staff to get paid early.
They also called for a draft bill which threatened their business model to be changed and name-dropped the former Tory PM to a Holyrood Committee.
Monica Lennon, Scottish Labour’s economy spokesperson, said: “The collapse of Greensill Capital has raised serious questions about lobbying and the outrageous special access to Cabinet Ministers enjoyed by David Cameron.
“Now we learn that Greensill Capital was also eyeing up Scotland’s NHS by touting its app to a Holyrood committee.
“The health service is under unprecedented pressure and it is very worrying that Greensill wanted to get their claws into our most cherished public service.”
Cameron’s links to Greensill Capital, which filed for insolvency last month, have been described as the “biggest lobbying scandal in a generation”.
The Australian was an adviser to the former PM when he was in Downing Street, and his supply chain finance firm hired Cameron in 2018 after he left office.
Cameron texted Chancellor Rishi Sunak about the firm accessing a Covid loans scheme, and he also took Greensill for a private drink with Health Secretary Matt Hancock in 2019.
The tycoon’s firm wanted to introduce a scheme in the NHS south of the border that would allow nurses and doctors to be paid early.
Some NHS trusts went on to use the Earnd app, which had a working title of Greensill Pay, during the pandemic.
Greensill Capital was also eyeing up Scotland as a potential market.
Holyrood’s Economy, Energy and Fair Work Committee last year asked for views on proposals to change a law which could affect business finance.
Greensill Capital, which flagged up that Lex Greensill had been an adviser to Cameron, raised concerns about a blanket ban in a draft bill on people “assigning” their wages, which is when money can be taken directly from an employee’s wage to pay a debt.
The firm agreed that individuals should not be able to do this for that purpose, but claimed they had developed a product which uses “assignation” for the benefit of consumers.
They wrote: “The Greensill group of companies has developed a service, called Greensill Pay, which employees can use to request early payment of a portion of their wages.”
They added that the firm provides a solution “at no cost to the employee and at low (or no) cost to the employer”.
Greensill Capital explicitly mentioned Scotland: “We would like to be able to offer our product in other jurisdictions around the globe, including in Scotland, where we think it could make a real difference to the lives of low-paid employees in particular.”
The company also urged changes to the draft bill.
A briefing by the Scottish Parliament said of the submission: “Greensill Pay.....highlighted that the ban on assignation of wages threatened its business model.”
Cameron, reportedly in line to earn millions of pounds in shares from Greenshill, has admitted his communications with the UK Government should have been through “formal” channels.
Greensill’s collapse resulted in the loss of nearly 450 jobs and has raised fears over tens of thousands of other jobs at firms that relied on the group for loans.
A spokesperson for NHS National Services Scotland said: “The Greensill product has never been procured, promoted or used, as far as we know, by NHS Scotland.”
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said: "This submission makes clear that Greensill had Scotland's NHS in their eyeline.
"In the wake of a series of troubling revelations about the firm's lobbying of ministers, we need complete transparency for all dealings that Scotland's public bodies had with the collapsed company.
"From wining and dining members of the Scottish cabinet to enlisting the help of the former Prime Minister, their ability to influence important figures was significantly more impressive than their finances.
"There are still big questions for both the Scottish and UK Governments to answer."
Scottish Greens health spokesperson Alison Johnstone said: "The UK Government's NHS procurement process in the last year has been nothing short of a scandal, with contracts being awarded to party donors and friends without normal tendering. Sadly, these meetings with the health secretary appear to have become totally normalised.
“The NHS in Scotland should be protected from this cronyism, but I am very concerned at the veto handed to UK ministers in the recent internal market bill, which opens up our health service to all kinds of backroom deals. The Scottish Greens will do everything we can to protect the integrity of our publicly-run health service.”
