Scottish First Minister's constituency accounts checked for missing money

Independent auditors yesterday began scrutinising the financial accounts in the Labour Party constituency office of Scotland's First Minister, Jack McConnell. The unnamed investigators were brought in by party officials after money disappeared from a bank account of Motherwell and Wishaw constituency office.

Although a party spokesman for the party refused to name the auditors or estimate how long they were expected to take, he promised that the results would be made public. At least one official from Mr McConnell's constituency is facing investigation over an apparent misuse of funds of up to £11,000.

Controversy over the missing money led to a landslide of revelations, focusing on one account within the Wishaw constituency, the "development fund" to which the Iron and Steel Trades Confederation union contributed £375 a quarter, and which was used to fund an unsuccessful bid by Mr McConnell for Labour's Scottish leadership in 2000.

Fuelled by Mr McConnell's party enemies, in a part of Scotland where Labour's tribal tensions run deep, the resulting inquiry has uncovered breaches of the law in several Labour constituency parties, over failure to properly declare political donations. As of February 2001, all individual donations of more than £1,000 – or totalling more than £1,000 from one source in a year – must be notified to the Electoral Commission. Failure to do so is punishable by up to a year in prison.