Margaret Curran and Cathy Jamieson, the two sitting Labour MSPs also elected to Westminster last month, have said they will donate their Scottish Parliament salaries to charity.
Since taking position at Westminster the politicians have each received a full MP salary and a reduced MSP salary, equivalent to a third of their normal MSP wage, which they must accept until the next Holyrood election. But Curran and Jamieson have pledged their MSP salaries to four local charities.
Jamieson, the new MP for Kilmarnock and Loudon, will split her Holyrood salary between Who Cares Scotland, which supports young people in care, and Combat Stress, which provides help and support for war veterans.
Jamieson said: “The situation is that the MP salary is paid to us, we receive a third of the MSP salary and I am making arrangements to use the ‘give as you earn’ scheme to donate that to two charities. The money I get from the MSP salary will go straight to the two charities.”
Curran, (pictured) the new MP for Glasgow East and long-standing MSP for Glasgow Baillieston, will donate half of her Scottish salary to Mary's Meals, which helps to feed school children in some of the world’s poorest countries, and the other half to Scottish Women's Aid in Glasgow East.
Abeer MacIntyre, Mary's Meals’ lead fundraiser, said: “We are very grateful to Margaret Curran for her ongoing support.”
The move by the Labour pair follows First Minister Alex Salmond’s decision to donate his Holyrood pay to a local charity. Mr Salmond donated his gross Holyrood salary of £50,000 to a charitable trust to support youth and community causes in the North East of Scotland.
