Comments by Susan Aitken, who was out campaigning in Glasgow with Nicola Sturgeon ahead of today’s elections, were quoted by critics of Kevin Stewart’s “pork barrel politics” announcement

An SNP minister has been accused of using public cash to try to win votes in today’s council elections after pledging a multimillion-pound investment in the party’s top target area.

Opposition MSPs have demanded an investigation into the announcement of an £8 million cash injection into a regeneration scheme in Glasgow.

The plan was announced less than 48 hours before polls open today, in what the opposition said was a flagrant breach of civil service rules on political impartiality.

It is claimed that a press release in which Kevin Stewart, the SNP housing minister, revealed the spending was “a blatant attempt to sway voters” and an example of “pork barrel politics”.

Guidelines for civil servants, who are bound by rules on impartiality, state that they