AS a Yes voter my greatest fear is that after independence we discover that we’ve simply replaced one failed system with another. That we get rid of Westminster and find that Holyrood becomes just as bad.

Independence can’t be a palace revolution, which merely replaces one group of self-interested elites with another. Independence, if it is to mean anything, has to make the way we govern ourselves better, fairer, properly in touch with ordinary people and their needs.

But that all depends on who we elect or rather who political parties put forward for us to elect. The unfolding story of Glasgow’s Lord Provost, SNP councillor Eva Bolander, contains the germ of my fears.

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Bolander spent more than £8000 on clothes and personal grooming at the taxpayer’s expense over two years. She claimed £1,150 for 23 pairs of shoes, and £152 for underwear. She claimed for six jackets, five coats, a £200 hat by a designer favoured by Kate Moss.

She claimed for makeup, haircuts valued at £751, nail treatments costing £479, hosiery, a watch, glasses worth £358, sunglasses, bags, and jewellery. She spent £500 in John Lewis in one day. The list is staggering. Bolander’s predecessor, Sadie Docherty, made no claims over a similar two-year period.

Understandably, opposition politicians have weaponised the expenses claims. Labour councillor Martin McElroy compared Bolander to Imelda Marcos. Tory MSP Annie Wells called on her to resign. Labour MSP James Kelly accused Bolander of going on a “grotesque spending spree at the taxpayers’ expense”.

Kelly said: “In just one trip to John Lewis she spent more on herself than what a worker being paid the national minimum wage earns in a whole week.” He added that she should reimburse the taxpayer.

The GMB union called Bolander “horrendously out of touch”. Union official Rhea Wolfson challenged her to “walk a mile in the shoes of GMB members”.

Yesterday, Bolander apologised and said she will repay some of the money. She hasn’t broken the law. She gets £39,310 a year, including an annual £5000 civic allowance. The money spent was part of that allowance. But the optics are those of greed and self-interest.

As soon as a politician gets their behind in a comfy chair they’ll feather their nest with public money – that’s the message from all of this. Amid austerity, did she think this would look good? Last year, Glasgow council accepted a gift of a Rolls Royce as the Lord Provost’s car.

The SNP promised a new style of administration in Glasgow. Bolander’s actions have shot those promises to pieces. The SNP looks grubby, and what Bolander has done will surely damage the party in future elections in the city. Her behaviour will certainly be remembered.

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But forget the political ramifications. Who cares whether a politician with bad judgement and a lack of sensitivity loses their job after living the good life at our expense. What’s far more important is the damage done to the image of Glasgow.

We have homeless people on every city corner. Shelter Scotland, the homeless charity, is taking Glasgow City Council to court claiming the local authority has illegally denied temporary accommodation to homeless people thousands of times over the last two years. Glasgow City Council has taken out loan deals to help pay for its £548 million equal pay settlement. People are living out of foodbanks in this city. People are struggling to pay their rent. There are families who can’t afford clothes for their kids to go to school – their school clothing grant is £110.

Amid all this, Bolander’s spending is sickening.

The most bewildering turn of events, though, comes from those defending Bolander. Council leader Susan Aitken tweeted: “It’s part of the LP’s salary in Glasgow, it’s always been understood that there’s an additional cost of being civic leader. Underwear = not pants but long slips for under black tie dresses.”

It doesn’t matter whether she bought pants or slips - what matters is that what Bolander has done looks dreadful, and people who should know better are defending her. No-one would object if a Lord Provost bought themselves a decent dress or suit in order to represent the city at official functions, but the taxpayer isn’t here to gild anyone’s life.

Online the usual barrage of empty-headed SNP fundamentalists sprung to Bolander’s defence. It was sexist to even question what Bolander had spent our money on. It was another ‘SNP bad’ story. She’s played the mea culpa card so what’s the big deal? Some even said that as Bolander’s allowance is £5000 a year, we should all be grateful that she’d underspent by only charging us £8000 in a two year period.

These are the same people who leap to the defence of any SNP figure caught in the cross-hairs. They don’t care whether actions are right or wrong - if the SNP’s in trouble, they’ll defend it. These are the people who make me fearful for the future success of independence. They are zealots who want their party in power. The rest of us want independence to bring meaningful change, and make Scotland a better and fairer place. We won’t get that if we’re okay with the likes of Bolander treating the public with disdain.

Nicola Sturgeon must privately loathe such moments. She is one of the few politicians not just on the national stage, but on the world’s stage, who conducts herself with intelligence, dignity and integrity. Yet her party seems to be filled with people who would accept the unacceptable as long as it is in the interests of the SNP.

What Bolander has done shames and damages the SNP. Her actions crash up against years of progressive rhetoric and legislation. Bolander also shames and damages Glasgow. And Bolander shames and damages the journey towards independence. She raises the spectre that nothing will change after a Yes vote, if the calibre of our political class does not improve. She also exposes the dangerous group-think among a hardcore minority of SNP fundamentalists, who would put up with anything as long as their hold on power is not threatened.

Neil Mackay is Scotland’s Columnist of the Year