SCOTTISH Labour spent three times more than the SNP at the last General Election, figures have revealed.
The Times reported that John Swinney’s party spent their lowest amount fighting a Westminster election since 2010.
Figures published by the Electoral Commission (EC) showed that even the Scottish Conservatives spent more than the SNP during the July 2024 ballot.
It has emerged that Scottish Labour spent £2,738,924 while the Scottish Tories spent £1,999,418.
The SNP spent £779,175, a quarter of the spending limit they had available.
A total of 37 Scottish Labour MPs were elected to Westminster, compared to nine SNP MPs, six LibDems and five Scottish Tories.
It is the lowest amount the party has spent fighting a General Election since 2010, when it spent around £300,000. In 2015 they spent £1.5 million, in 2017 £1.6m, and around £1m in 2019.
In comparison, the [[SNP]] spent the highest amount of all political parties during the 2021 Holyrood election, when the party was led by former first minister Nicola Sturgeon.
The SNP put £1,468,343 into that campaign, while the Scottish Tories spent £1,359,435, and Scottish Labour £1,176,410.
James Mitchell, professor of public policy at the University of Edinburgh, told The Times that polling showing a boost to the [[SNP]] should be taken with a “massive pinch of salt”.
“While the SNP currently leads the polls, it remains well down on 2021 with little reason to believe that will change given it lacks anything like the money, active members and momentum it [had] a decade ago, especially compared with Labour,” Mitchell said.
“The SNP today under John Swinney appears to be heading back to the time when he first led the party with much less money, a far from invigorated membership and potentially devastating revelations of incompetent management of the party’s finances.
“While Labour has a significant advantage in terms of funding and, as the recent by-election once more demonstrated, hard-headed strategic thinking, it still needs to sharpen its message of hope to motivate both activists and voters. Labour has almost all its ducks in a row while the SNP’s have been partially clipped.”
The [[SNP]] have also lost hundreds of thousands of pounds in funding through short money – cash given to opposition parties in the House of Commons to help with costs – after the number of their MPs was reduced.
Following the General Election, Swinney reorganised SNP HQ and cut a third of staff.
Donations to the party remain low, receiving just shy of £90,000 in the first two quarters of this year.
This included £82,614.44 in short money, a cash donation of £2584.85 and a non-cash donation of £4800.
