Commenting on Freedom of Information figures showing that civil servant bonuses went up from £716,289 in 2006 to £1,302,214 in 2009, Liberal Democrat Finance spokesperson Jeremy Purvis MSP said:

“We’ve been told time and time again that bonuses paid to senior civil servants this year are nothing to do with the SNP. These figures blow this claim out of the water.

“Not only have the most senior mandarins received bumper bonuses with the country in recession, the proportion of the bonus payout on the pay bill has, quite unbelievably, shot up. This is the clear responsibility of SNP Ministers.

“The Scottish Government is warning the rest of the public sector to make cuts at the same time as they are paying bonuses to Scotland’s senior civil servants.