By Jim Mennie:

SNP cabinet ministers have returned nearly £2 million in pay with full audit trails. Reform’s Malcolm Offord promised his entire salary to a trust he alone controls — one the Scottish charity regulator has now opened a formal inquiry into.

SNP cabinet ministers have voluntarily frozen the ministerial part of their pay at 2008-09 levels for 17 years. They take the full legal salary but immediately return the excess straight to the Scottish Government for public spending — over £1.94 million returned by March 2024, projected to hit £2.64 million by 2026.

Fully auditable: The figures come from official Scottish Government FOI responses (e.g. FOI-202500451978) and are absorbed into audited public accounts checked annually by Audit Scotland. Anyone can request their own FOI for proof — it’s black-and-white government records, not party spin.

Reform’s approach (Malcolm Offord only):

The sole notable pledge is from Reform Scotland leader Malcolm Offord, who said he would donate his entire MSP salary (~£78,000/year) to the Badenoch Trust. No other Reform MSP has done anything similar, and there is no party-wide policy. Emphasis on Offord’s arrangement.

This has been widely criticised as a less-than-admirable scam. Offord personally controls the tiny Badenoch Trust (director, secretary, and controlling trustee; the only other trustee is his personal assistant). The charity is registered only in England & Wales, operates from his Edinburgh office, and was never registered with OSCR (Scotland’s regulator) despite operating solely in Scotland. OSCR opened a formal inquiry in May 2026 and ordered it to register. No donations have been publicly confirmed yet. Critics call it self-dealing: public money routed through a vehicle Offord controls with minimal oversight and clear regulatory breach.

Pros & Cons comparison

SNP approach

Pros: Long-term (17 years), collective, fully transparent and auditable, money goes directly to the public purse — genuine, verifiable sacrifice.

Cons: Limited to ministers only; total sum modest compared to Scotland’s budget; partial U-turn in 2025 looks opportunistic.

Reform/Offord approach

Pros: Bolder on paper — full salary donation.

Cons: Individual only, unproven, routed through a self-controlled charity in regulatory breach — lacks independence, transparency, and credibility. Far more optics than substance.

Bottom line: The SNP’s policy is clearly the stronger, more admirable, and fully auditable example of politician restraint. Offord’s pledge collapses under scrutiny into something far more dubious.