THE taxpayer is footing a £7000-a-year bill so that one of Scotland’s wealthiest MSPs can live in his son’s Edinburgh flat, the Sunday Herald can reveal.

Labour’s John Home Robertson bills the public £600 a month to rent a property bought by his son days before his election to the Scottish parliament.

The East Lothian MSP’s claim has prompted renewed calls to have the parliament’s expenses system overhauled.

It is the latest issue to stem from Holyrood’s Edinburgh Accommodation Allowance, which helps some MSPs pay the interest on a mortgage in the capital, or to pay rent on a property.

Home Robertson qualifies because his home, rather than his constituency, is classed as being beyond daily commuting distance. He has since used the scheme to claim £600 a month in rent allowances.

But the Sunday Herald can reveal the Labour MSP is billing the taxpayer for staying in his own son’s flat.

The Land Register shows that Patrick Home Robertson bought a £72,000 apartment in Tytler Gardens in April 1999 when he was 17 years old. Days later, his father became an MSP and has claimed rental on the property. The register discloses that there is no mortgage on the property.

The electoral roll states that a “John Home Robertson” has lived periodically at the Edinburgh address since 1999. The MSP also parks his car in the “private residents’ parking only” section of Tytler Gardens. The flat is seconds away from the new Holyrood parliament building.

Parliamentary figures show he claimed £8422 in 2001-02 in accommodation costs, and then £7200 in rent between April 2004 and March 2005.

Costs released earlier this year showed he had claimed £4463 in accommodation costs for the first two quarters of 2005, which was made up by monthly payments of £600.

He also charged the public for more than £3000 in mileage over the same period last year – the highest travel claim for any MSP in the Lothians – a clawback that raises questions about how often he uses the Edinburgh property.

In addition, Home Robertson charges the taxpayer for the council

on his son’s flat, as well as for other running costs.

Full details of the Labour MSP’s Edinburgh living arrangements are secret as the parliament has declined to make rental invoices publicly available.

The Holyrood website, which contains a vast amount of detail about each MSP’s allowances, says of all his rent claims: “File not available due to Data Protection or personal security reasons or due to the poor quality of the original document.”

One resident in Tytler Gardens said of the MSP: “He’s here quite regularly. He seems to live here.”

It is the latest blow for an allowance that has been widely discredited in the eyes of the public. First minister Jack McConnell called on the perk to be reviewed earlier this year.

Home Robertson is a two-term MSP who used to convene the Holyrood Progress Group, the body created to monitor the new Scottish parliament building. He opposed calls to cap spending on the wayward project.

The Labour politician defended his rental arrangements: “It is a matter of public record that I lease a flat in Edinburgh and that the rent is paid under the Scottish parliament’s Edinburgh Accommodation Allowance Scheme.

“The Scottish parliament authorities have a copy of the lease of the flat, the rental was independently assessed and this arrangement was fully approved by the Allowances Office from the outset.”

Scottish National Party MSP Michael Matheson, who has spoken out in criticism of the Edinburgh accommodation allowance, called for urgent reform of the system:

“This is a further reminder why the Corporate Body needs to review the allowance as early as possible. There’s a danger that some of its workings will undermine the reputation of the parliament and further dilute public confidence in politicians.”