Calls to scrap allowance as MSP claims £979 a month for mortgage

HOLYROOD managers came under increasing pressure last night to scrap a controversial allowances scheme for MSPs after it emerged that an Executive minister was charging the taxpayer nearly £1,000 a month to cover his costs for a £380,000 house in Edinburgh.

MSPs can claim the Edinburgh Housing Allowance to cover the mortgages of properties in the capital if they live too far away to commute to Edinburgh.

They can also claim back the cost of utility bills and council tax on these properties.

It emerged yesterday that Tavish Scott, the transport minister and MSP for Shetland, was claiming 979 a month from the taxpayer to cover the costs of a mortgage and other bills on a house in the city's Morningside area.

Mr Scott has already made 36,000 on an Edinburgh flat that he bought with the public purse and traded up to the bigger property with the help of the accommodation allowance.

Critics say this is just the latest example of MSPs profiting from the rising housing market with taxpayers' help and have renewed calls for the system to be changed.

Mr Scott has not broken any rules, and yesterday he stated: "I have followed the rules that are set down for all MSPs. I am not going to comment on anything to do with this."

But a spokesman for the First Minister said Jack McConnell remained concerned about the issue and hoped it would be looked at by the parliamentary authorities.

Mr McConnell has already written to George Reid, the Presiding Officer, expressing his fears that the allowance scheme is becoming discredited.

Yesterday, his spokesman said: "This is a matter for the parliament, but he believes there is, at best, public confusion and, at worst, public concern about this and he would like the Scottish Parliament's Corporate Body to examine the Edinburgh accommodation scheme."

Tommy Sheridan, of the breakaway socialist party Solidarity, yesterday called for the entire scheme to be suspended.

He said: "I have been campaigning against this scheme for seven years and have warned that the more the public see members profiting from it, the more the parliament will be brought into disrepute. Tomorrow I will be putting down a parliamentary motion calling for an urgent review of the scheme.

"We have an election coming up - will [members] want to be seen to be upholding a scheme which can make them thousands of pounds' profit at the taxpayers' expense?"

The revelations about Mr Scott's claims follow disclosures last week that, under the scheme, Labour MSP John Home Robertson is billing the public 7,000 a year to stay in his son's flat.

A spokesman for the Scottish Parliament said: "The Scottish Parliament Corporate Body recognises there are issues relating to the operation of the Edinburgh Accommodation Allowance that need to be considered and reviewed."

CONTROVERSIAL CLAIMS

THE Edinburgh Accommodation Allowance allows MSPs who live at least an hour's commute from the capital to claim back the costs of staying in Edinburgh on parliamentary business.

They can claim back rent, mortgage payments or hotel costs. They can also claim back the council tax, utility bills and television licence charges for these properties. Payments for the mortgage element are capped at about 11,000 a year and most do not claim the full amount.

The scheme has proved controversial because it has allowed MSPs to buy second homes in Edinburgh using taxpayers' money to pay the mortgages, and then to sell these properties some years later, pocketing the profit.