Mr Smith thinks there is a fine line between an elected representative legitimately using their influence to benefit their constituents and hawking their vote to an administration for a few million pounds a pop.
"THE SNP were yesterday accused of trying to "buy" a vote in favour of their budget. Finance secretary John Swinney's spending plans include a £3.5million grant for Edinburgh after pressure from independent Lothians MSP Margo MacDonald."
Margo is an Independent so she has little influence in the Scottish Parliament other than by using her vote on an issue by issue basis, in exchange for whatever she can get, but does that make it right? But it is ironic for the Labour Party to be complaining about it given that PM Gordon Brown did exactly the same thing last year, only on a massively bigger scale when he had to "buy" the votes of Ulster Unionists to keep his government's plans to allow the detention of terror suspects for 42-days on track in the House of Commons. For the record the Government denied a deal had ever been done.
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