SNP more conservative than Tories with expenses

EXCLUSIVE by POLITICAL STAFF

A long string of Tory "victories" over the Scottish National Party in the two Borders Holyrood seats was maintained in 2018/19 when Conservative Rachael Hamilton easily defeated the SNP's Christine Grahame in the 'expenses claimed' stakes.

Former MSP John Lamont, Mrs Hamilton's predecessor in the Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire constituency, had already notched up a series of impressive expenses wins over Ms Grahame, the member for Midlothian South, Tweeddale & Lauderdale before he relinquished his seat in the Scottish Parliament and moved to Westminster in 2017.

Now, figures which show how much each MSP collected by way of additional costs on top of their £63,579 annual salary during the last financial year have Ms Grahame trailing Mrs Hamilton by a fairly wide margin, although the gap did close slightly from the previous fiscal year.

In 2017/18 Mrs Hamilton lodged 307 individual claims totalling £31,186 for expenditure including Edinburgh accommodation, office costs and travel. Ms Grahame's 148 claims were worth a total of £19,281.

The latest statistics show Mrs Hamilton still well ahead on £33,473 for 313 claims while Ms Grahame's 158 'results' (the term used on the Parliament website) added up to £24,506.

A breakdown reveals Mrs Hamilton spent £13,200 on renting Edinburgh accommodation (Ms Grahame lives in the city) while her office costs came to £13,296, less than Ms Grahame's total spend in this sector of £19,200. So far as travel is concerned Mrs Hamilton submitted 116 separate claims worth £3,431 while her SNP counterpart claimed £1,454 for travel.

Individual claims made by Mrs Hamilton included £375 for 'rolls for business meeting' at Ednam House Hotel, Kelso and a £20 payment made to Hazel's Gardening Service to 'spray weeds in courtyard'.

Meanwhile Ms Grahame lodged two separate claims for £204 and £280 for 'interpretation services'.

In 2016/17 - the last year Mr Lamont served as a MSP - he lodged 436 claims totalling £34,209 with Ms Grahame back on £19,241 for just 176 items of expenditure.

We also examined the costs racked up by two of the South of Scotland list MSPs, Michelle Ballantyne (Conservative) and Paul Wheelhouse (SNP). This comparison also resulted in a 'win' for the Tory member by £20,092 (148 individual claims) to £17,157 (114).

The bulk of Mrs Ballantyne's financial costs were for renting Edinburgh accommodation (£14,654) while Mr Wheelhouse, who lives in Berwickshire, claimed £5,713 for hotel stays in the city.

Mr Wheelhouse's office costs are recorded as £10,369 while Mrs Ballantyne claimed £2,530 in the same category. Her travel costs amounted to £1,563 while Mr Wheelhouse claimed £315 for travel, all of the claims relating to car parking. It should be borne in mind that Mr Wheelhouse is a Scottish Government minister.