A LABOUR MP has said he is “grateful” to receive a five-figure donation from an organisation which proposed shipping gangs smuggling asylum seekers across the English Channel to Scotland.
Inverclyde and Renfrewshire West’s Labour MP Martin McCluskey’s parliamentary register of interests from July 22 showed he received a £10,000 donation to support his election campaign from Labour Together, according to the Greenock Telegraph.
The think tank hit the headlines earlier this year after Josh Simons, former director of the group who is now the MP for Makerfield, proposed putting gangs smuggling asylum seekers across the English Channel on a barge and sending them to Scotland.
During an interview with LBC, Simons said: “Why don’t you send the smuggler gangs and put them on the barge that you know has been set aside for the asylum seekers and then, you know, ship the barge up to the north of Scotland.
“Who cares?”
At the time Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar attempted to distance himself and the party from the think tank describing them as a “fringe” element.
Sarwar even went as far as to say that he wasn’t even aware of who Simons was.
He said: “My first reaction is ‘who?’ Every party has elements on the fringes that give them moments of cringe.
“I think people that are making stupid, flippant comments like that are best ignored.”
However, McCluskey (below) told the Greenock Telegraph he was “grateful” to receive support from Labour Together.
He said: “Labour Together has made an important contribution to policy thinking in the Labour party over a number of years and I was pleased that they supported my campaign during the election.
“I am grateful to all the local and national donors who helped us get Labour’s message out to people during our successful General Election campaign.
“During 2020, I served on Labour Together’s review of the 2019 election at the invitation of the chair of the review, Ed Miliband.”
The donation was logged under a section titled “support linked to an MP but received by a local party organisation or indirectly via a central party organisation”, which showed a total of £38,500 worth of contributions made to McCluskey.
Earlier this week it was revealed that the Electoral Commission records showed that Scottish Labour has received more than £56,000 from Labour Together since March last year.
The latest donation of £18,750 was made on June 5 with previous donations of the same amount made in March and December 2023.
More than £100,000 was also donated by the group to 17 Scottish Labour MPs.
