Leader: Investigation's Punitive Tack Is Out of Proportion

Summary

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ANOTHER week, yet another bout of Sturm und Drang over the affair of Wendy Alexander and donations to her Labour leadership campaign. Those unversed in the ways of Scottish politics will struggle to comprehend how an overseas donation of GBP 950 to an uncontested election could come to dominate for so long, still less have the capacity to end the career of one of Scotland's most talented and promising politicians.

Two developments have threatened to terminate this promise. The first is the acceptance by Ms Alexander's election team of a donation from a person domiciled overseas. The acceptance of such donations is proscribed under legislation ironically brought in by the Labour government at Westminster. The matter is now under prolonged and ongoing investigation by the Electoral Commission.

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Extract

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Leader: Investigation's Punitive Tack Is Out of Proportion

The second, arguably easier to deal with, is the referral of Ms Alexander by the Scottish parliamentary standards commissioner Dr Jim Dyer to the procurator-fiscal for not recording gifts to her leadership campaign. Is this justified? Ms Alexand...

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