MSP expenses soar as fears over security hit home
● Overall claims at Holyrood rose to almost £17m an increase of 4%
Spending on security-related measures to protect MSPS soared by more than 40 per cent to reach almost £90,000 last year, it has emerged.
Holyrood chiefs say the protection enhancements come in light of the murder of MP Jo Cox and the Westminster attacks two years ago.
Official figures yesterday also showed that MSPS at Holyrood claimed almost £17 million in expenses last year after an inflation busting rise of £630,000.
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“security improvements and other security arrangements” allocated to MSPS by Holyrood chiefs rose to £63,808. MSPS’ own “security related” claims, along with disability provision, for 2018/19 was £22,954. The total spending on both budgets was £86,762, marking a 42 per cent rise on the previous year.
A Scottish Parliament spokesman said: “The 2017 Westminster attacks and Jo Cox’s death made us all look again at Members safety and the threat, regrettably, that elected representatives face on a day to day basis.
“Over the last three years the Parliament’s corporate body has funded security enhancements to 106 MSPS office based on Police Scotland advice. It has also made available lone worker devices for Members and their staff.”
Glasgow MSP Annie Wells revealed earlier this year she had been advised to increase her security by varying her way to work after receiving online threats.
The expenses also show MSPS spent nearly three times as much on car travel as they did on public transport, at £219,819.85 for car hire and vehicle mileage compared with £78,266.91 for public transport, including trams, ferries and rail. The tax bill reached £17,521 for MSPS and their staff, a £1,500 rise on the previous year.
Richard Dixon, director of Friends of the Earth Scotland raised concerns over the car use, insisting MSPS must take their contribution to the “climate emergency” seriously.
“Those numbers, I think, reflect quite badly on the MSPS as a general group, not focussing on any individual, and they certainly need to change in the years going forward,” he said. “We need to see a big shift away from people driving private cars and being paid to do that.”
Holyrood chiefs should also review the milage rate for car journeys, he added, to make it less attractive.
The cost of employing staff accounts for the lions share of the cash and has gone up by £434,000 over the past year to reach £12.7m.
Spending on childcare vouchers was £37,031 last year, a marginal rise on 2017/18.
The overall cost of expenses for all MSPS reached £116.23m last year, marking a rise of 4 per cent on 2017/18, almost two-and-a-half times the rate of inflation.
The money covers the cost of parliamentaryduties,employing staff and the running of a local office.