Explosive new evidence has revealed that senior figures in the UK government commissioned polling on political attitudes using public money – just weeks before the UK went into lockdown due to the COVID pandemic.
The emails, disclosed by The Good Law Project, outline that over £100,000 per week was planning to be spent on secret political polling by the UK government; and how the Prime Minister’s most senior adviser Dominic Cummings tried to silence the concerns of civil servants.
The SNP has called for a full public inquiry into the revelation that the UK government used funds for COVID contracts to conduct research related to constitutional issues.
Earlier this month, Tommy Sheppard MP slammed the UK government’s decision to appeal a ruling which would see them disclose information about secret polling conducted on public attitudes to the Union during the pandemic.
Tommy Sheppard MP said:
“These revelations are utterly damning for the Tories – but show that they can’t dodge scrutiny on these matters any longer.
“It’s clear thee UK government was more occupied with dissecting their own political fortunes than tackling the COVID crisis.
“Spending more than a hundred thousand pounds for their own benefit is scandalous – and the shroud of secrecy surrounding these contracts using public money is deeply alarming.
“While Dominic Cummings himself appears to have overridden the concerns of civil servants who were reportedly uncomfortable with these dodgy dealings, other key Vote Leave figures were being handed cushy contracts.
“Westminster is broken – and independence is the only way for Scotland to escape self-serving governments we don’t vote for.”
