INVERCLYDE’S Labour MP says he was pleased to receive a five-figure donation towards his election campaign from an organisation his Scottish leader described as being on the “fringes” of his party.

An entry on Martin McCluskey’s parliamentary register of interests dated July 22 shows the local politician received a £10,000 donation to support his election campaign from the Labour Together think tank.

The group hit the headlines earlier this year after Josh Simons, who served as its director until his election as MP for Makerfield in June, proposed shipping gangs smuggling asylum seekers across the English Channel up to the north of Scotland.

In the wake of the comments, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar attempted to distance himself from the group and Simons, saying he did not even know who Simons was.

Mr Sarwar said: “My first reaction is ‘who?’. Every party has elements on the fringes that give them moments of cringe.

“I think people that are making stupid, flippant comments like that are best ignored.”

But Mr McCluskey told the Telegraph he was pleased to receive support from Labour Together.

He added: “Labour Together has made an important contribution to policy thinking in the Labour party over a number of years and I was pleased that they supported my campaign during the election.

“I am grateful to all the local and national donors who helped us get Labour’s message out to people during our successful General Election campaign.

“During 2020, I served on Labour Together’s review of the 2019 election at the invitation of the chair of the review, Ed Miliband.”

The donation was logged under a section titled “support linked to an MP but received by a local party organisation or indirectly via a central party organisation”, which details £38,500 worth of contributions. 

Other donations listed under this section of Mr McCluskey’s register of interests include a £5,000 sum from the Community Trade Union and a £3,500 gift from Inverclyde entrepreneur Poonam Gupta, of PG Paper.

He also received a £5,000 contribution from Danny Luhde-Thompson and a £15,000 donation from Gary Lubner, who in June of this year were both named by pro-Labour publication LabourList as two of the party’s biggest donors in 2024.

All of the donations related to Mr McCluskey's election campaign.