Stephen rents out tax perk home

Published on Saturday 8 March 2008 23:34

SCOTTISH Liberal Democrat leader Nicol Stephen is renting out a £400,000 Edinburgh house that he bought for his own home with help from the taxpayer, it was reported last night.

Stephen and his wife Caris Doig bought the property in 2002 for 193,333 and received 10,000 a year from the public purse to pay mortgage interest and council tax under the controversial Edinburgh Allowances Scheme (EAS).

Under the scheme, MSPs from outside the Central Belt can get taxpayers' cash to help them find a place to stay in Edinburgh.

But the MSP for Aberdeen South has now taken in lodgers for the two-bedroomed house in the Morningside area of Edinburgh.

Stephen moved to a larger property to allow his wife and children to live in Edinburgh. The Lib Dems have insisted that he is not now claiming public cash for any property in the city.

The EAS has been a source of controversy as MSPs bought properties at the start of the property boom using public cash, and then sold them.

A spokesman for Nicol Stephen said:"Nicol Stephen's children are staying in Edinburgh for this year. This has required him to make alternative Edinburgh accommodation arrangements for this period, at his own expense."