Unpaid Advisors a ‘Waste of Money’?

Arthur ‘the bleak’ Midwinter, former advisor to the Finance Committee has made a bit of an odd attack on First Minister Alex Salmond. Yesterday’s Scotsman carried a report on the appointment of the Council of Economic advisors.

Those appointed carry serious weight in academic circles and the business community – not to mention that two of them are Nobel laureates in economics. In Peter McMahon report for the Scotsman it says that Salmond “said the members [of the economic council], who will not be paid, include some ‘remarkable people’ and deliberately represented a ‘wide spectrum of economic opinion independent of party politics’.”

And how did Midwinter react to this initiative? He said "This is a waste of public money…Hopefully, Mr Salmond will soon stop the gesture politics and make a statement on matters for which he has responsibility,"

So why did former Labour councillor Arthur Midwinter react in this way? Perhaps he didn`t recognise the talents of the economists appointed or appreciate that since they are giving their time freely that their scope to waste money is limited. After all Midwinter is not himself an economist.

I should perhaps qualify pointing out that Midwinter is a former Labour councillor by pointing out he has long been closer politically to the Conservatives and derided Tom McCabe during the election campaign. This was possibly not a sensible move should he have wished to continue on a budget adviser to the Finance Committee – McCabe is the new convener.

Another view on the Midwinter comments can be found here (with thanks to Holyrood Watcher for flagging it up in a recent post). A final thought on Midwinter’s comments though – “Hopefully, Mr Salmond will soon stop the gesture politics and make a statement on matters for which he has responsibility”, I hope I`m not alone in thinking that trying to improve the economy of Scotland is very much part of a First Minister’s responsibilities.