RUTH Davidson was paid £7500 for a single night’s work, she has revealed.

The former Scottish Tory leader received the money for appearing as a political pundit on ITV’s general election night coverage in December.

THe SNP called on her to hand the money back, otherwise she would be "laughing all the way to the bank" while her party's "heartless" polices forced families into poverty.

At the election, the Scottish Tory manifesto boasted Boris Johnson's government was raising the National Living Wage to £10.50 an hour by 2024, around 1 per cent of Ms Davidson’s hourly rate that night.

READ MORE: Ruth Davidson quits £50,000 job with lobbying firm

It NLW is currently £8.21 for over-25s and is due to rise to £8.72 in April.

The fee, which was rumoured to have deterred other broadcasters from inviting her on, has now been declared in Ms Davidson's Holyrood register of interests.

The latest entry states: “On 24 January 2020 I was paid a £7,500 fee by ITV (of 200 Grays Inn Rd, Holborn, London WC1X 8XZ) for participating in the network’s election night coverage. [Registered 12 February 2020]”.

The Herald on Sunday revealed in November that Ms Davidson had been offered an "unprecedented" sum to appear at a pundit on ITV.

She was also approached by the BBC, but the corporation was unable to match ITV's offer and backed off.

READ MORE: Ruth Davidson offered 'unprecedented sum' to discuss General Election on ITV

Ms Davidson refused to say at the time how much she was being paid, but has now been olbliged to disclose the sum under Holyrood propriety rules.

Last year Ms Davidson was criticised for trying to start a new career as a £2000-a-day consultant to a City of London PR firm while still an MSP.

She pulled out of the job with Tulchan Communications within days after a ferocious backlash at Holyrood.

READ MORE: Ruth Davidson says she is ready to go to Lords

Ms Davidson, 41, who earns a basic salary of £63,579 as the MSP for Edinburgh Central, is standing down at the next Holyrood election in 2021.

She is expected to be elevated to the House of Lords like her predecessor as Scottish Tory leader, Baroness Annabel Goldie.

Labour MSP Neil Findlay, who has campaigned for MSPs to be banned from taking second jobs, accused Davidson of bringing politics into disrepute.

He said: "She is a mercenary whose sole motivation now appears to be making as much money as possible from her political connections - it brings politics into disrepute."

SNP MSP Rona Mackay said: "Ruth Davidson's priority appears to be picking up thousands in outside earnings while neglecting her actual job.

"Serving politicians who appear on election night broadcasts do so to represent their party - not to pick up a pay cheque. This payment is unprecedented – and she should now hand it back.

"Public outrage might have forced Ms Davidson to u-turn on her attempt to take a job with a lobbying firm – but now she plans to take a seat in the House of Lords where, unfortunately, voters will be denied the chance to vote her out.

"While she's laughing all the way to the bank, Ruth Davidson might want to stop to consider the thousands of families forced into poverty because of her party's heartless policies."

A Scottish Conservative spokesman said: "Ruth was invited to appear on ITV's election night coverage and agreed. The programme set the fee structure for all of its presenters and pundits, and Ruth had no input into that process."