I gave £150000 to festival to stop it leaving Scotland, minister insists

Culture secretary Fiona Hyslop is expected to be quizzed on “cronyism” accusations as she prepares to answer questions over £150,000 of public money which was handed to the T in Park festival.

She was questioned about why the highly profitable enterprise was deemed a worthy recipient of government subsidy.

Jennifer Dempsie, a former aide to Alex Salmond, was working on a contract for DF Concerts as a festival project manager at the time of the meeting, ahead of the grant being awarded.

“My interest is the economic interest of this country and the cultural offering we have got for generations of young people and the development of the contemporary music scene in Scotland”, insisted Hyslop.

Speaking ahead of the hearing, Ms Hyslop said: “The level of funding support provided was in line with the level of funding provided by Scottish government and its bodies to the organisers of other major events such as Edinburgh’s Hogmanay, the John Muir Festival, the World Pipe Band Championships, Celtic Connections and the worldwide Book Festival”.

“DF Concerts and Events outlined a range of additional costs associated with the change of site for the T in the Park event and highlighted unanticipated further costs resulting from the time-limited condition attached to the planning consent”.

However, she said she did not know that requests for an official meeting to her private office came from Ms Dempsie.

Can I put it to the Cabinet Secretary that this was a done deal given the applicant’s close connection with the SNP?

“The event itself for this year certainly, and possibly for years going forward, would not be in a position that they would want to continue”, she added. The £150,000 to a company with multi-million pound profits… you made a decision to allocate the money, then you scurried round to find which budget it might fit in to.

“The culture secretary’s go-to argument that festivals are important to the economy misses the point”.

Labour MSP John Pentland said that while T in the Park is “an iconic Scottish cultural event” which should be supported, he said “serious questions” should be asked.

“That the Scottish government deemed it appropriate to release more than 600 pages of mostly redacted documents the night before the evidence session will lead many people to judge that ministers are treating parliament with contempt”. “The public deserve honesty and transparency on this issue from the SNP”.

“It’s hard not to conclude that this is a cosy deal dreamed up by an SNP minister and a former SNP special adviser. So if this is not a fraudulent application I would like the cabinet secretary to tell us why”.