Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe EDINBURGH, Scotland, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- The Scottish government has been spending more each year on potted plants and cut flowers, an opposition party complained Thursday. The Scottish Liberal Democrats said the total bill has been 130,000 pounds ($214,000) for the past three years. But the annual figure has been rising to 56,378 pounds ($92,700) in the past fiscal year. Advertisement Alison McInness, the Liberal Democrat business manager, said the government spent a hefty 26,000 pounds ($43,000) in three years just in flowers and plants for ministers' offices. "At a time when people still have to tighten their purse-strings, many will be surprised that the Scottish Government is spending this kind of money cultivating plants when it would be better spent cultivating jobs and growth," she said. "Scottish ministers should prune this growing spend." The governing Scottish National Party said a new contract for government facilities has increased the cost of plants across the board. A spokesman also fired a couple of volleys at the Liberal Democrats. "Perhaps the Liberal Democrats should be more concerned with the fact they support an unelected House of Lords mired in an expenses scandal," he said, referring to the debate about replacing the British upper house with an elected body. "Of course, with independence we will save the taxpayer around 50 million pounds ($82 million) a year on the current costs of running Westminster." Advertisement
