Lord Ashcroft: 'Like expenses reform, better late than never'

THE revelation that Tory peer Lord Ashcroft used his cash to try to influence a vote in Edinburgh gives a national controversy a curious local angle.

The thousands of pounds an Ashcroft company pumped into the Tory campaign to unseat Alistair Darling in 2005 turned out to be wasted. The Edinburgh Pentlands MP survived and went on to become Chancellor of the Exchequer.

But we now know that the money – just a small fraction of the 4 million Ashcroft has used to bankroll the Conservatives – came from a man who wasn't paying all his taxes in the UK.

We know this because, after years of pressure, Ashcroft has finally admitted he is a "non-dom", someone who is on the electoral roll here but doesn't pay tax on his earnings made abroad.

There's nothing against the law about that, and indeed both the quick-to-complain Labour Party and the Lib Dems have accepted millions of pounds from their own "non-doms".

But what makes Ashcroft's case more remarkable is that there was a clear impression that he was only allowed to become a lord – after being earlier rejected in 1999 – because he had agreed to give up his "non-dom" status. The Tory peer now says he made no such commitment.

The Tories also deny any Ashcroft cash will be spent in Scotland this election.

But as he is committed to funding campaigns in key marginals, this newspaper won't be the only ones watching the Electoral Commission's post-election findings with care.

Incidentally, legislation going through the Commons next week will compel MPs and peers to be "resident, ordinarily resident and domiciled in the UK for tax purposes". Like expenses reform, better late than never.

The wrong course

GOOD work should be rewarded whenever possible, both in the public and the private sector.

But is there really any need to send as many as a dozen Edinburgh council staff to stay at the Old Course Hotel in St Andrews?

Even if the city's nominees do win awards at the Cosla event, how many people need to be there to pick it up – let along stay overnight to maximise the experience?

The officials involved may well be diligent and hard-working, but to spend around 2,000 on what seems to be little more than a golf jolly leaves a distinctly bad smell.

Especially at a time when services are being cut to help fill a 90m-plus black hole in the city's accounts.