MSP owns five homes in Edinburgh but claims £13,000 for hotel stays

Jim Hume charged taxpayers 13,000 for overnight accommodation - despite owning five flats in the capital.

The South of Scotland MSP - who is paid 75,000 a year for his roles at Holyrood and as a councillor in Galashiels - has seven properties, including two outside the city. His properties include a flat on the Royal Mile, not far from the parliament building.

The properties, which are owned jointly with his wife Lynne, are worth about 1.25 million and could generate 70,000 per year in rental income.

Mr Hume has not broken any rules and insists the flats are let to tenants who could not be removed for the two dozen or so nights a year he stayed over in Edinburgh.

But critics say the rules are to allow MSPs whose constituency homes are too far away from parliament to allow them to commute and who cannot afford a second home in the city to stay near Holyrood.

John O'Connell of the Taxpayers Alliance said: "Taxpayers will be furious if MSPs with property portfolios go on claiming for accommodation costs. It's crucial that parliamentarians respect the trust hard-working families have put in them to fight for their local interests and are not seen to be in it simply for the cash."

The revelation came in the newly-published register of MSPs interests, which showed Mr Hume owned several properties.

Records from Holyrood also show that Mr Hume claims 100 a night for his hotel stays in Edinburgh.

But he defended the claims yesterday. A spokesman for the MSP said: "The flats have people living in them and have had since the 1990s. Jim can't chuck them out for a couple of dozen nights a year when he has to work late."

Mr Hume is not the only MSP sitting on a property portfolio. A total of 23 other politicians are landlords for and hold properties worth an estimated 9m in total.

Midlothian North and Musselburgh MSP Colin Beattie owns two Edinburgh properties worth upwards of 400,000, as well as a half-share in a commercial property in Angus, worth almost 500,000. Jean Urquhart, Nationalist list MSP for the Highlands and Islands, owns a flat in Edinburgh in addition to commercial property in Ullapool worth as much as 800,000.

Cowdenbeath MSP Helen Eadie also owns a flat in Edinburgh, worth 250,000, as well as a house in Bulgaria and some commercial property.

Gil Paterson, the Nationalist MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie has shares in commercial properties worth a combined 850,000 and a share in a French apartment, valued at 350,000.Conservative list MSP for the Highlands and Islands Jamie McGrigor owns a farmhouse worth 200,000 and a London flat worth 500,000.

Former Presiding Officer Alex Fergusson, the Tory MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, owns property and land in Ayrshire worth 500,000 in addition to a flat in Pitlochry worth 250,000.