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SCOTTISH Labour have been panned over research which finds its MPs have received nearly £200,000 from donors linked to private healthcare.
The SNP have said that leader Anas Sarwar must “come clean”.
Earlier this year, EveryDoctor revealed that MPs had bagged more than £2.7m in donations from people with links to the private healthcare sector.
Among those receiving the most donations was Health Secretary Wes Streeting who has pocketed a whopping £224,575.
The organisation’s research, however, also found that half of all Scottish Labour MPs – including Scottish Secretary Ian Murray (below) and Minister Kirsty McNeill – have received donations from companies or individuals linked directly or indirectly with private healthcare, worth a total of £192,071.
The largest donor to Scottish MPs is the Labour Together Ltd think tank. It is primarily funded by Martin Taylor, who founded the hedge fund Crake Asset Management, as well as Trevor Chinn, a senior adviser to the private equity firm CVC Capital Partners.
CVC has investments in dozens of private healthcare companies in the UK, Europe and Asia, whilst Taylor’s firm has held millions worth of shares in firms including United Health and Elevance Health.
Several Scottish Labour MPs – Gregor Poynton, Melanie Ward, and Martin McCluskey – have also benefited from donations from Danny Luhde-Thompson, who is an advisor to investment firm Quadrature Capital, which has had extensive shareholding in private healthcare firms.
The donations have been declared in the proper manner and there is no suggestion of wrongdoing.
But SNP MSP Clare Haughey has told The National that these figures are “alarming to everyone who is serious about protecting the NHS".
“The volume and amount of donations involved show just how much influence these shadowy think tanks and hedge funds have within the Labour Party,” she added.
“Even before coming to power, Labour’s Health Secretary Wes Streeting said that he would ‘hold the door wide open’ to private investment in the NHS. It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to see why when you discover who is bankrolling the Labour Party.”
Haughey went on: “Anas Sarwar previously tried to dismiss Labour Together Ltd as a group on the ‘fringes’ of the Labour Party. The fact that they have funded half of his MPs would suggest they are far from being on the fringes but are in fact at the very heart of Labour.
“Sarwar must come clean on Scottish Labour’s position on private healthcare, and whether his prospective MSPs will be getting bankrolled by groups with links to private healthcare.
“Whilst Labour has many questions to answer, one thing is clear – only the SNP will protect the NHS and ensure that healthcare is provided based on medical need rather than the ability to pay."
A Scottish Labour spokesperson said: "All donations are declared in line with Parliamentary and Ministerial rules.
"While one in six Scots are abandoned by the SNP on NHS waiting lists, the Labour Party – who created the NHS – will always make sure it remains free at the point of need on our watch."
