Pressure on Monica Lennon to repay £50k golden goodbye... as she eyes Holyrood return just two months later!

By TOM GORDON, SCOTTISH DAILY MAIL DEPUTY POLITICAL EDITOR Published: 18:40, 24 July 2026 | Updated: 18:40, 24 July 2026 Monica Lennon is under pressure to repay a £50,000 golden goodbye for losing her Holyrood seat after returning as a Labour MSP. The Left-winger, who is tipped to stand for the Scottish Labour leadership, is getting her old job back after Anas Sarwar quit to become a UK minister in the Lords. Ms Lennon, on Friday, said she had already spent some of the money and would give what she could to charity. But the Scottish Conservatives said her windfall ‘stinks’. Labour Housing Secretary Angela Rayner this week refused to repay a £16,876 exit payment after returning to government under Andy Burnham. She got the money after quitting the same job in 2025 for failing to pay enough tax on an £800,000 flat. Under Holyrood’s electoral system, Ms Lennon will replace departing Mr Sarwar within days as a Glasgow list MSP after failing to get re-elected in May. All MSPs who stepped down or lost at the election got a ‘resettlement grant’ worth at least half their salary. Monica Lennon is tipped to stand for the Scottish Labour leadership Based on length of service, Holyrood pays out the cash to ‘assist with the cost of adjusting to non-parliamentary life’. After serving ten full years, Ms Lennon was entitled to £64,759, the first £30,000 of it tax-free, or around £50,000 after tax. She will not be paid her £77,711 MSP’s salary again until she takes an oath when parliament returns in September, but she will be due back pay for part of the summer. Conservative finance spokesman Craig Hoy said: ‘Hard-working Scots will think this stinks. ‘A taxpayer-funded resettlement payment is meant to help MSPs who have left Parliament, not those who find themselves back in Holyrood a matter of weeks later. ‘While Labour insists this may be within the rules, it flies in the face of common sense. Monica Lennon should recognise how bad this looks and repay the money.’ Glasgow Reform MSP Thomas Kerr added: ‘Resettlement payments were never intended to provide a substantial taxpayer-funded payment to someone who is back in the same parliament less than three months later. ‘Monica Lennon should do the honourable thing and repay the full £50,000. Keeping it while resuming the very role it was designed to help her leave is impossible to justify.’ Ms Lennon, 45, whose father died of alcoholism, told the Record she would give what she could to women’s health and alcohol abuse charities. She said: ‘I have been unemployed since May and have had to use some of my exit payment to pay bills, but it would not sit easy with me to hold on to the rest. ‘The whole system of exit payments for MSPs and members of the Government is outdated and not fit for purpose. I will campaign for change when I am back at Holyrood.’