Tories have accused the first minister of hypocrisy after she appointed former Aberdeen MP Callum McCaig as a special adviser.
Mr McCaig, who lost his seat in May’s snap general election, has been made a special adviser to Nicola Sturgeon. Shadow finance secretary Murdo Fraser said the number of special advisers – known as spads – now stood at 14, the same as during the independence referendum.
The SNP had nine spads in 2012 and Ms Sturgon has previously pledged to cut numbers.
She also attacked the appointment of former MEP Ian Duncan, who failed in his bid to become MP for Perth but was then made a Lord, as “an abomination”.
Mr Fraser said: “Over the years the SNP has repeatedly said it wants to reduce the number of special advisers working for government, yet this latest appointment returns numbers to the previous record level.
“For some reason, when the UK Government appoints former politicians it is an ‘absolute abomination’, according to Nicola Sturgeon.
“Yet in recent times, she has appointed two former SNP politicians to the public payroll.
“The SNP clearly thinks it can use taxpayers’ cash in this way without any recourse from voters at all, but people are increasingly seeing through the SNP’s hypocritical ways.”
A Labour source also attacked the appointment and said: “Having been rejected by voters, the public will be surprised to learn that Callum McCaig is now on the first minister’s pay roll – along with Stewart Maxwell, who was also rejected by voters.
“His new responsibilities of finance and local government are incredibly important.
“Now that he is no longer an MP and freed from the party’s rules that ban dissent in public, hopefully he will tell Nicola Sturgeon that she must stop passing on Tory austerity.
“The SNP knows it faces an uphill struggle to get its budget passed if it continues with its pro-austerity agenda, so Callum will certainly have his work cut out.”
A spokesman for the first minister said: “This is ludicrous hypocrisy from the Tories given recent revelations that spending by the Tory Scotland Office on spin doctors has increased six-fold since they took power.
“While the Scotland Office exists simply to act as apologists for whatever the Tory government inflicts on Scotland, the Scottish Government is absolutely focussed on delivering for the people of Scotland, including in the increased areas of devolved responsibility – as well as tackling the serious economic challenges posed by the Tories’ extreme Brexit.”