SNP Government independence paper costed more than £10 per download

An independence paper put together by the SNP-Green Government costed more than £10 per download.

The Government’s Building a New Scotland series is an attempt at revamping the case for independence following the 2014 referendum.

Twelve papers have been published with the intention of giving Scots an “informed choice” about the future.

It was reported earlier this week that there have been 210,000 clicks across the first nine documents.

Those documents cost £150,467 to produce, which makes it 72p per download.

But the eighth paper – ‘Our marine sector in an independent Scotland’ – cost £14,057 to produce. It has been accessed 1,295 times since November, equalling £10.85 per download.

A month later ministers unveiled a paper on social security, costing £20,271. It has since been downloaded 3,902 times, or £5.20 per person.

The paper on the EU, launched in mid-November, has cost £2.65 per download, while the document on a “modern constitution” totals £2.71 per download.

It comes after the Daily Record revealed last week that the papers have had a plummeting number of downloads.

The volume of clicks has fallen from 78,571 for the first paper to 3,168 for the dossier covering Scotland’s place on the world stage.

The interest was also far higher under Nicola Sturgeon than for her successor Humza Yousaf.

Pamela Nash, chief executive of Scotland in Union and Scottish Labour general election candidate, said: “Since the SNP-Green government embarked on this exercise, the chief criticism has been that it is a disgraceful waste of money.

“Taxpayers’ cash shouldn’t be used to promote nationalist propaganda.

“It would seem, judging by the number of people accessing these reports, that the public agrees.

“Ministers must explain why spending several pounds for every person downloading a report, as was the case with some of these papers, is good value for money.

“It’s time for the Scottish Government to stop wasting resources this way and focus on people’s priorities.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said:

“The Scottish Government was elected with a clear mandate to provide the people of Scotland with the information they need to make an informed choice about their future across a range of topics, and there continues to be strong public interest in these papers, which is evident in the media coverage surrounding their publication and engagement on social media.”

To sign up to the Daily Record Politics newsletter, click here