Should taxpayer-funded special advisers be allowed to work on party business, like the SNP, Plaid and Sinn Féin pact?
Special advisers are publicly paid temporary civil servants who are exempt from civil service impartiality rules. Their codes of conduct allow them to liaise with the governing party, but say they should not use official resources for party political activity. In September 2026 the SNP, Plaid Cymru and Sinn Féin leaders signed a memorandum in Cardiff calling on the UK Government to plan for constitutional change. Freedom of information responses reported in October 2026 say Scottish and Welsh special advisers attended and helped plan it. The Scottish Government says their attendance followed the code.
3 Opinions
If you’re tax-payer funded you should be an impartial civil servant. If you’re working for a party they should fund you. Anything else is a misuse of taxpayers money.
I don't generally think so but the lines here aren't clear cut. Something like an environmentalist conference could easily blur the lines between government business and something more partisan, for instance, if various governments of similar views were coordinating policies and collaborating closely. In general I'm opposed to the idea, hence the no vote, but it's always going to be a gray area.
Like many things it’s something that voters are best placed to decide on by punishing or rewarding parties that do it appropriately. The line between party policy and government policy is unavoidably blurred