Nicola Sturgeon was handed an astonishing £64,000 taxpayer-funded payoff after she stood down as First Minister, the Mail can reveal.
The former SNP leader was given the huge sum to help her to prepare for life after high office.
It was worked out based on her reign of just over eight years as Scotland’s longest-serving First Minister. She was handed the ‘officeholder resettlement grant’ in late June.
It is not known what Ms Sturgeon has done with the money.
Critics said the public will find the payoff ‘hard to stomach’ following a series of controversies since she left Bute House.
Nicola Sturgeon was handed a taxpayer-funded £64,000 payoff after stepping down as First Minister
Scottish Conservative deputy leader Meghan Gallacher said: ‘This significant payout will stick in the craw of hard-pressed Scots.
‘While this payment is within the rules, Nicola Sturgeon has lost all credibility and many members of the public – who are also feeling the effects of her failures to focus on Scotland’s real priorities during her time in office – will find this news hard to stomach.
‘Nicola Sturgeon’s record as First Minister is dire in virtually every policy area, so this payoff looks like a reward for failure.’
The details were uncovered following a freedom of information request to the Scottish parliament, which is responsible for issuing resettlement grants to MSPs and government ministers.
It asked how much severance pay was awarded to Ms Sturgeon when she stepped down as First Minister.
The response said: ‘We can confirm a resettlement grant of £64,378 was paid to Nicola Sturgeon MSP in 2023.’
Officials confirmed the payment is required to be made 90 days after a First Minister formally ceases holding office, which was June 26.
Before 2009, First Ministers received 50 per cent of their final salary as an annual pension. Following the Scottish Parliamentary Pension Act 2009, they now receive a minimum of 50 per cent of salary as a one-off payment.
A complicated formula to work out the sum divides the number of years of continuous service by 12 and then multiplies this by 100 to work out how many thousands of pounds are handed over.
Scottish Tory deputy leader Meghan Gallacher said that Ms Sturgeon had ‘lost all credibility’
Ms Sturgeon tendered her resignation on March 28 last year. She was arrested and questioned by police on June 11 as part of Operation Branchform into the SNP’s finances, before being released without charge pending further investigation.
In January she was criticised over deleted WhatsApp messages when she appeared at the UK Covid-19 Inquiry. She said she had deleted her exchanges about Covid, but insisted any ‘salient points’ discussed about government policy would be recorded on the corporate record.
Last year, Ms Sturgeon set up a company to handle income from her earnings outside politics. She registered Nicola Sturgeon Ltd at Companies House weeks after she signed a deal for her memoirs. Experts have estimated she could secure as much as £1million from the contract with publisher Pan Macmillan.
Her Scottish parliament register of interests shows she received £75,000 from Pan Macmillan in August as the first of four advance payments for the book. Last night, a Scottish parliament spokesman said: ‘The grant payable to First Ministers on leaving office is set out in the Scottish Parliamentary Pensions Act 2009.’
The Mail asked a spokesman for Ms Sturgeon if there was anything specific she intended to do with the resettlement grant but she declined to comment.
