MSPs under renewed fire over expenses

• Pensioners' groups attack MSPs over allowances for second homes and bills

• MSPs defend second home allowances as essential to parliamentary work

• MSPs are allowed to claim up to 10,600 a year in expenses

Key quote

"Over 100,000 older Scots who have worked and saved hard all their lives find themselves suffering the indignity of pensioner poverty, struggling on a daily basis to make ends meet with ever-increasing utility bills and council tax hikes that continue to outstrip pension increases. Where is the rewards package for a lifetime of contributions by our pensioners?" - Lindsay Scott, of Help the Aged Scotland

Story in full HOLYROOD was at the centre of a fresh expenses row last night after pensioners' groups attacked the generous allowances system which gives MSPs the right to claim back council tax and utility bills from the taxpayer.

The politicians were accused of double standards for failing to stop rocketing council tax bills for pensioners at the same time as sheltering behind the taxpayer for the very same bills.

The latest furore centres on the rules which allow MSPs to buy or rent a second home in Edinburgh, if their main home is more than an hour away from the capital.

Nearly 50 MSPs have taken advantage of the scheme which enables them to stay in Edinburgh during the parliamentary week and return to their constituency homes at the weekend.

But what has angered pensioners' groups is the fact that MSPs do not just get the costs of their accommodation covered by the Parliament, but are allowed to claim back all bills acquired in the running of a second home, including all council tax bills, electricity and gas bills and also the cost of a television licence.

The annual MSP's salary is about 50,000, yet they have still managed to make themselves immune from paying council tax, at least on their second homes.

The controversy is the latest in a series of expenses problems that have plagued the Scottish Parliament.

Keith Raffan, a former Liberal Democrat MSP, resigned after questions were raised over his mileage claims.

He claimed tens of thousands of miles in journeys around his region, some of them claimed when he was on parliamentary business outside Scotland.

Only this week David McLetchie, the Scottish Tory leader, has come under pressure to publish full details of his taxi claims after suggestions that he may have used the parliamentary taxi account to go to the office where he practiced law until last year.

Lindsay Scott, of Help the Aged Scotland, said: "It appears we are governed by a ruling elite who write the rules to suit themselves.

"They pay themselves more than double the average wage, take more than double the average holidays, have pensions to look forward to that are second to none and receive all these entitlements on top."

He added: "Meanwhile, over 100,000 older Scots who have worked and saved hard all their lives find themselves suffering the indignity of pensioner poverty, struggling on a daily basis to make ends meet with ever-increasing utility bills and council tax hikes that continue to outstrip pension increases. Where is the rewards package for a lifetime of contributions by our pensioners?"

Jess Barrow, from Age Concern Scotland, said there was very real anger in the pensioner community over rising council tax bills.

She said: "They see rising council tax as eating away at any benefit they might have from their own savings or pensions and a lot feel extremely angry that they have paid all their own bills and taxes and they are being penalised."

Ms Barrow said she did not think many pensioners compared themselves to other groups in society - like MSPs - but she added that MSPs had to be aware of the impact that the elderly vote could have at election time. She said: "What is important is that MSPs recognise the critical importance of the grey vote, as it were, and the elderly electorate."

She added: "They do play a significant part in life and you don't always need to experience something to understand an injustice."

The rules for MSPs were adopted in 2001 in an attempt to make Holyrood more fair and transparent than Westminster.

And although MSPs are allowed to claim for all their utility and council tax bills on their second homes, the system in Scotland is much tighter and much more rigorous than it is in London.

MSPs are allowed to claim up to 10,600 a year to cover the costs of renting or paying the mortgage on a base in Edinburgh. This covers building and contents insurance, the provision of window and door locks and intruder alarms or external lighting.

But MSPs have to provide receipts for all expenses and only get the money back for their utility bills or television licence payments if they provide proof of payment.

In London, MPs can claim up to 20,000 a year for the costs of a second home in the capital and only need to provide receipts for payments over 250.

An SNP spokesman explained the rationale behind the Holyrood system: "There isn't a trustworthy organisation in the world that does not cover the expenses of employees or members when they stay away from home because of work."

A spokesman for the parliament said: "The Edinburgh Accommodation Allowance reimburses a member for expenses necessarily incurred in staying overnight in Edinburgh for the purpose of performing his or her parliamentary duties."

Not all the MSPs approve, however. Tommy Sheridan, of the Scottish Socialists, said taxpayers were having to "stump up" to cover the household bills of MSPs. "It is an absolute outrage, and it must stop," he said.

WHY SECOND HOMES MUST BE FUNDED

MSPs insisted yesterday that they were justified in claiming back from the taxpayer the bills for their second homes.

Jamie McGrigor, a Tory MSP who lives in Argyll and who claimed nearly 10,000 for his second home in Edinburgh last year, said the money often did not meet the costs he incurred running his flat in the capital. "It's touch and go some months whether it actually covers the cost," he said.

Mr McGrigor, a list member for the Highlands and Islands, went on: "For me to drive from parliament to home in Argyll is 125 miles. Commuting would be extremely difficult - I have to allow three hours each way.

"I originally stayed in hotels; we are allowed about 100 a night. That was more expensive and I also found in summer it was sometimes difficult to get a hotel room."

Alasdair Morrison, below left, a Labour MSP who represents the furthest constituency from Edinburgh, the Western Isles, was blunt in his assessment of the necessity of the Edinburgh accommodation system.

"You could not do your job otherwise - full stop," he said.

Tavish Scott, the Liberal Democrat MSP for Orkney, said: "Those of us who come from far flung places in Scotland have no alternative - we have to live in Edinburgh for work for the best part of 40 weeks of the year.

"I believe there is a justification, therefore, for the costs of the accommodation of living in Edinburgh to be paid by the parliament."

Murdo Fraser, a Tory MSP and one of those who claimed the most in accommodation expenses last year - 9,900 - refused to get drawn into defending the system.

He simply said: "These are the rules of the parliament and I am operating within the rules."