Benefits probe into SNP candidate shows system is working, Swinney claims

A benefits probe into a former SNP candidate shows the system is working, the First Minister has said.

Sally Donald stood down as the candidate for the party in the Edinburgh Southern seat at May’s election on Wednesday following a report in the Scotsman she was under investigation by Social Security Scotland over her claiming of adult disability payment.

Ms Donald – a long-time SNP staffer – said she “strenuously denies” there was any wrongdoing and that she did not want the story to distract from the party’s campaign.

Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay raised the issue at First Minister’s Questions on Thursday, describing Ms Donald as a “star candidate” for the party and pointing to John Swinney’s attendance at an event to promote her campaign just weeks before news of the investigation broke.

The Tory leader sought to tie the probe to what he sees as a lax benefits system.

“I’ve repeatedly challenged John Swinney over the SNP’s deliberate light-touch benefits system being wide open to abuse, but he is in denial,” he said.

Mr Findlay pointed to that fact that just three people have been prosecuted for benefits fraud in Scotland, as well as figures from last year that just 29 cases of potential fraud had been referred to the Crown Office.

“On the basis of fraud across the United Kingdom, that number should be in the thousands,” he said.

“On the basis of our evidence, does John Swinney agree that the SNP has effectively de-criminalised benefit fraud in Scotland?”

Responding, the First Minister said he was “surprised” Mr Findlay did not make a connection between the investigation in Ms Donald’s case, which he said “confirms the point that such activities are undertaken by Social Security Scotland”.

“So, I think by his own words – not for the first time – Russell Findlay destroys his own arguments he puts to me today.”

He added: “The system is working, because investigations take place when they are required and there is a robust assessment process in place.

“What, of course, this is cover for for Mr Findlay is his desire to take benefits away from vulnerable people in our society.

“It’s the fault line in the system, that Russell Findlay and the Tories with their restoration of the proper credentials as the nasty party of Scottish politics are going after vulnerable people in our society.

“Well, my party is not going to do that.”