Who’s being flash with the cash – and what are they desperate to distract us with? The latest roundup of what the political parties in Scotland are spending their social media money on.

Once again Labour is the big spender, with HQ in London continuing to subsidise its Accounting Unit north of the Border.  The Greens managed a shocking £1 spent with Alba next from bottom with £58.  Every little counts.  The Tories came in third after the SNP, Lib Dems and Reform UK saving their money for a rainy day.

The Spend Tracker confirms the political activity right now:  not much happening. We’re over the Westminster Budget blip in November and even Labour has little it wants to say right now about abstaining in the Scottish Budget vote.

Where the money’s going

And it’s Anas Sarwar self-publicity that comes first again, with Labour spending fully three quarters of its budget on fluffing up the next king of Scotland – well at least in his dreams. This month Anas has launched a new tagline on the unsuspecting Scottish public: “New hope. New leadership. A new direction for Scotland.” Not sure what “old hope” is, but it sounds impressive.

Me, me, me!

Labour has two versions of their punchy new ad – one with just the smiling motor mouth, and the other simply stating “A First Minister that will bring our country together”. Hot on the heels of ordering his party to abstain from supporting the Scottish Governments budget – which The SNP claims will “renew public services and invest in the nation’s priorities. A Budget that, most importantly, can bring some hope.” So, some hope – but not the “new hope” Sarwar wants to give us. That “bringing together” perhaps needs a little more work to sound like anything more than the product of a Labour late night brainstorming session.

Of course there are other members of the Labour party in Scotland and a distant second on spend by Labour went to Martin McClusky – who has developed an unhealthy obsession with teeth. And providing a dating service for Dentists, it would appear.

Finally, in third place in the Labour spend charts, is the jolly Debbie Duffy – reminding us that Labour does actually care about elections and not just themselves (or dentists). Apparently she wants to sort streets and climb houses, when not scrapping in front of schools – which begs the question how that makes our cities safer. But Labour plans were always a little hard to decipher.

The SNP came a distant second with a fraction the spend of Labour – but they still managed some cracking advertising. Who can’t get excited about the scaffolding outside the council offices in Dalkeith? Don’t worry – “a councillor” is here to explain. Still, it got quite a few “likes” so what do we know?

Almost as many people liked hearing Anas – yes him again – doing his young pretender piece. Again. Just watch his lips!

And that £1 the Greens spent? Strangely, it was the one ad that was right on-topic for current world politics. Whether its keeping the planet habitable for humans, or highlighting the deficiencies of rightist shock jocks from ‘merica, you can depend on the Greens to highlight the big issues. At least they’ve moved on from electric shock collars.

Finally Alba – always ready to provide an opinion, but strangely now left asking for them.

Disappointing to discover that when you click on their survey, “the most important issues to you” don’t include JD Vance lying, nor making Sarwar the first king of Scotland. Not even the Dalkeith scaffolding! Can’t but think that Alba really doesn’t have its finger on the pulse of Scotland.