LAST week the Sunday Herald revealed that Labour MSP John Home Robertson was billing the taxpayer GBP600 a month to stay in his son's flat, through the parliament's Edinburgh accommodation allowance which enables MSPs to rent a flat in the capital, or charge for mortgage interest payments. The practice of renting from relatives has done nothing to quell public unease with the scheme.
Our revelations today about transport minister Tavish Scott using taxpayers' money to help buy a GBP380,000 home reinforce these concerns. Not only is he charging the public GBP1000 a month to stay in his new property, but that is double the amount he charged when living in another taxpayer-funded flat last year. He sold that property and kept the GBP36,000 profit, but then increased the public's bill after moving into a much larger home.
We accept that MSPs cannot do their jobs properly unless they are reimbursed for expenses incurred representing their constituents, so a scheme that compensates them for out-of-pocket expenses is entirely legitimate. But this system was surely not designed to help a well-paid minister buy a GBP380,000 family home in a much-sought-after area of Edinburgh, nor to provide payment for MSPs' family members who allow them to stay in their properties.
We believe that restoring faith in the Holyrood expenses scheme requires fundamental reform of this allowance.
We would urge that the mortgage interest payment scheme should be suspended indefinitely for new applicants.
Instead, MSPs should be given a choice of renting or staying overnight in a hotel.
Also, our elected representatives should not be allowed to rent from relatives.
This scheme gives critics of devolution ammunition to suggest that MSPs are benefiting financially from the public purse. In the interests of transparency, it should be scrapped.
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