By Steve Bargeton, political editor

TIGHT-FISTED nationalist politicians were ordered to fork out £250 a month for party coffers at the SNP annual conference in Inverness yesterday.

By a narrow margin delegates backed a motion requiring MSPs, MPs and MEPs—who are paid £49,000, £55,000 and £72,000 a year respectively—to hand over £3000 a year to headquarters.

Moving the motion, delegate Graham Sutherland launched a scathing attack on parliamentarians who donate little or nothing to central party funds.

He pointed out that last year the SNP’s 35 parliamentarians in total gave less collectively than Scottish Socialist leader Tommy Sheridan gave to his party alone.

And addressing the argument that MSPs give to their local branches, he said the Electoral Commission records showed only four cases of SNP politicians donating more than £1000 last year.

“They do earn more than what 97% of what Scots earn,” he said.

“We are talking about £250 a month, which is equal to the rise MSPs awarded themselves in a pay rise last year.”

Seconding the motion, MSP Nicola Sturgeon admitted that, if it was passed, she would have to increase her monthly donation to central funds.

“I’m not here to play the good guy and slag off my parliamentary colleagues,” she said.

“One in three of our parliamentary colleagues gave not a penny to headquarters and this is not good enough.”

She told delegates that they should not be expected to dig deeper while “we who owe our living to the SNP give little or nothing.”

Ms Sturgeon told her colleagues they had a moral obligation to give part of their salary to the party, but admitted that it was unlikely that headquarters staff would be “arresting bank accounts” if they did not.

Opposing the motion, several speakers said that forcing parliamentarians to give to headquarters might force them to stop donating locally.