SNP TAKES A £10M HIT

Swinney's party misses out on funding for MPs' staff after 39-seat Westminster loss

- ANDREW QUINN and PAUL HUTCHEON

THE SNP will take a hit of more than £10million a year following its General Election hammering.

Staffing budgets for SNP MPs will fall by around £9million after last week's result.

This is on top of losing almost £1million a year in "short money" due to the drop in seats and votes won.

Former SNP MSP Alex Neil said: "These losses will be debilitating for the SNP."

He said of the drop in short money and of the loss of staffing allowances: "This will e present a great challenge for the SNP as staff are the backbone of the party at Westminster and in MPs' offices.

"It will have a drastic impact on the SNP being able to propagate its case and communicate with voters."

The election was a disaster for the Nationalists after it fell from 48 MPs to nine, but the losses were also financial.

Each MP from outside London can spend up to £250,820 for staffing from the publicly funded allowances system.

This money goes to MPs, not their political party, for staff.

SNP MPs as a whole were entitled to around £11.2million before the election, but with the Nationalists only winning nine seats last week the sum has dropped to £2.2million.

The staffing budget for SNP MPs is now £9,029,520 less than before the election was called.