Scottish MPs are spending on spin doctors and AI consultants - what PR leaders need to know
Expense disclosures since the election point to a clear trend: Scottish MPs are putting public money into external communications, AI training, and PR support. Early reporting suggests Labour offices account for most of that spend so far.
For PR and communications teams, this is a signal. Demand is moving from ad-hoc press help to structured support that blends message discipline with AI-enabled workflows.
Where the money is going
- External communications retainers: Media strategy, stakeholder mapping, and rapid response support.
- AI training and tooling: Coaching on content workflows, briefing automation, and safe use of generative tools.
- PR support on demand: Issues management, event comms, and constituency-facing content.
The mix tells a story: offices want speed, consistency, and proof they're using tech responsibly. If you sell services here, lead with those outcomes.
Why the tilt toward Labour offices
Two practical reasons. First, a wave of new MPs building operations from scratch. Second, a push to professionalize comms quickly under higher scrutiny.
That creates a short window for agencies and consultants who can onboard fast, handle compliance, and show measurable impact.
What agencies need to prepare
- Clear, compliant scopes: Separate political activity from parliamentary casework and public information.
- Fixed-fee options: Predictable monthly packages beat open-ended hours in an audit environment.
- Rapid onboarding kits: Templates for comms plans, briefing notes, stakeholder lists, and crisis protocols.
- AI guardrails baked in: Data handling, model choice, redaction workflows, and opt-out pathways.
AI training that actually lands in an MP's office
- Inbox triage and drafting: Structured prompts, tone control, and approval flows for letters, speeches, and social posts.
- Research accelerators: Summarizing long policy docs, extracting quotes, and cross-checking sources.
- Content QA: Fact-check checklists, bias detection, and hallucination traps to avoid.
- Security basics: What never goes into an AI tool, model settings, and handling sensitive constituent data.
Offer role-based sessions for MPs, chiefs of staff, caseworkers, and comms leads. Keep it practical, tool-agnostic, and tied to real workflows.
If you're building an internal curriculum, these AI courses by job are a useful starting point for mapping skills to tasks.
Procurement, compliance, and trust signals
- Expense-friendly documentation: Provide clear invoices, deliverables, and timeframes that fit IPSA reporting.
- Conflict checks: Declare party roles or campaign ties up front. Keep parliamentary and political work ring-fenced.
- Data handling: Written policies for storage, redaction, and model use. Make this part of your pitch pack.
- Outcome reporting: Monthly one-pagers: objectives, activities, outputs, and outcomes. Keep it simple and auditable.
If you need a baseline on public spending rules, the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority publishes guidance and data here: IPSA.
Positioning your offer to parliamentary clients
- Sell speed to clarity: Frame services around faster decisions, cleaner messages, and fewer reworks.
- Bundle for outcomes: Media office starter kit, AI-lite content workflow, crisis drill in a box.
- Proof over promises: Case-like examples with anonymized metrics: response times, coverage quality, stakeholder reach.
- Train + do: Hybrid retainers where you deliver and upskill the in-house team simultaneously.
Ethics and public interest
Scrutiny is the default. Treat it as a design constraint, not a risk to dodge.
- Clarity on public value: Distinguish between constituency information and party messaging in every plan.
- Audit trails: Keep version histories, source notes, and approval logs-especially for AI-assisted content.
- Professional standards: Align with published public affairs codes and make that visible in your onboarding material. See the PRCA Public Affairs Code.
Pricing that survives daylight
- Menu pricing: Line-item rates for media training, content sprints, AI setup, and crisis hours.
- Outcome caps: Define what "done" looks like to avoid scope drift and expense surprises.
- Transparent tool costs: List AI licenses and data services separately so they're easy to justify.
Signals this market will keep growing
- New MPs maturing their operations over the next 6-12 months.
- Rising expectations on digital responsiveness and accessibility.
- More formal policies on AI use across parliamentary offices.
That combination usually drives steady spend on training, process, and light automation-especially where small teams need leverage.
Quick checklist for PR and comms teams
- Have two retainer tiers and one project sprint you can start in under two weeks.
- Publish a one-page AI policy you're comfortable sharing with any office.
- Prepare a comms + AI onboarding pack with templates and a 90-day plan.
- Set up monthly reporting that fits IPSA documentation.
- Train your team on redaction and safe prompt workflows.
One last thing on AI capability
Most offices don't need complex stacks. They need a reliable workflow that helps them draft, check, and publish faster-without creating risk.
If you want structured options to plug in, see these curated paths: Latest AI courses.
The headline is simple: spending is moving to communications support and AI fluency. If you can deliver speed, clarity, and compliance in one package, you'll be first call when budgets land.
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