SNP spends more on Scottish Parliament election campaign than Scottish Tories and Scottish Labour combined

The SNP spent more on its Scottish Parliament election campaign than the Scottish Tories and Scottish Labour combined, according to new figures released by the Electoral Commission.

The figures show the SNP spent £1,465,542 – a record amount – while the Tory spend reached £979,661, and Labour trailed on £337,814, down from £819,646 in 2011.

The Scottish Greens spent £274,656 on the election, ahead of the Lib Dems on £187,647.

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The Scottish Tory spend was more than three times higher than in 2011, when the party put £273,000 into its campaign.

The SNP’s spending also rose, up from £1.14m in 2011. The figures show it spent £17,136 on advertisements in The Sun alone.

The maximum limit was set at £1.51m.

Andy O’Neill, Head of the Electoral Commission in Scotland said: “The information we have published today completes the picture on campaign spending by political parties at the Scottish Parliament election. Voters can now see exactly how parties spent their money campaigning for their votes.”