McLetchie hits out over taxi row

David McLetchie hit out at journalists over the taxi row

Scottish Conservative leader David McLetchie has hit out at some of the journalists who have covered the row over his taxi expenses.

Mr McLetchie said he was answerable to voters and would not be intimidated by what he described as "the pariahs of the press".

There have been a series of stories about Mr McLetchie's expenses.

Earlier this month, the information commissioner ruled details of claims for journeys should be published.

Important issues

In a Sunday newspaper, Mr McLetchie sought to draw a line under the affair by attacking those journalists who he said were "an embarrassment" to fair-minded colleagues in the profession.

He said: "I am answerable to my constituents in Edinburgh Pentlands and to the voters of Scotland as a whole and not to you. I will be judged by them and not by you.

"I shall lead the Scottish Conservatives into the 2007 elections and will campaign vigorously on the important issues that really matter to the people of Scotland."

He accused one journalist of having "camped" outside the house of a former parliamentary employee who had worked from home and having made "nuisance" phone calls despite being told she did not wish to speak.

The report the following day was a "travesty of the truth", Mr McLetchie claimed.

He also insisted that his overall travel claims were well below the average every year and said at no time had the reimbursements sought been deemed excessive or unreasonable by Holyrood's allowances office.

Taxis were taken to the offices of Mr McLetchie's legal firm

It emerged earlier this month that Mr McLetchie charged the Scottish Parliament for travelling to his party conference in the south of England.

The Holyrood parliamentary body confirmed that Mr McLetchie misclaimed for a return flight to Bournemouth in 2002 and another trip to Selkirk in 2003.

The two journeys were unrelated to his parliamentary duties.

But Mr McLetchie insisted he had done nothing untoward and, according to officials, repaid the £250 sum.

Parliamentary business

Earlier, information released by parliament showed that taxis were taken to the offices of Mr McLetchie's legal firm.

The document provided details of taxi claims which confirmed speculation about regular trips he took from Holyrood to the Edinburgh legal firm where the Edinburgh Pentlands MSP worked at the time.

Mr McLetchie said the trips were legitimate because he carried out parliamentary business from his firm's offices.

According to the parliament, Mr McLetchie spotted the errors in March 2005, just after some of the details of his travel expenses were made public in a freedom of information request.

The rules governing MSPs' expenses have since been tightened.