Taxpayers hit as MSPs spend wildly on poll mail

A GLUT of surveys and newsletters sent out by MSPs in the run-up to the election helped send the bill to taxpayers for posting their mail soaring nearly £100,000 over budget.

The number of items posted by MSPs at taxpayers' expense leapt by 80 per cent in the year before the Holyrood election, it emerged today.

The increase suggests MSPs desperate to raise their profile with the voters scrambled to make the most of the free postage they are allowed to send out newsletters, reports and surveys to constituents.

In the financial year 2006-07, which ended just as parliament was officially dissolved for this year's May 3 elections, MSPs posted a total of 834,794 items compared with 461,848 in the previous financial year.

The bill for the taxpayer was £350,211 - 45 per cent up on the previous year's £241,081.

And once the parliament's mail screening contract and the stock of postage stamps were taken into account, the total cost of mail services and postage was £557,169 - £98,000 over budget.

A parliament insider said: "MSPs are entitled to send out newsletters or parliamentary reports to constituents, but many of them don't do it until the year before the election.

"And they can conduct surveys, writing to businesses in their constituency or region, for example, asking their views on legislation - they are more likely to do that in the run-up to an election.

"You are not allowed to promote your party in any of these things - and they all have to be approved by the allowances office.

"But it's just about name recognition and being seen to do something.

"MSPs are much more active generally when they have an election on their mind."

The good news for the taxpayer is the cost of MSPs' postage will probably dip again this financial year since the election is out of the way.

The insider said: "There will probably be very few reports and surveys going out this year."

Mike Pringle, Liberal Democrat MSP for Edinburgh South, said he was not surprised there had been an increase in MSP mail in the run-up to the election, but the 80 per cent rise did seem a lot.

He said: "I don't think there's any doubt people will do more in the year up to the election - it's human nature."

But he insisted some MSPs kept in touch with constituents throughout the parliamentary term.

"I might have done a little bit more in the period before the election, but I do send letters regularly all the time, letting people know what's going on."

Independent Lothians MSP Margo MacDonald said the system had been designed to allow a free flow of information between MSPs and their constituents.

She said: "No doubt some people will have taken advantage of arrangements which were intended to improve communications."

But she added: "I'm sure it's a complete coincidence MSPs' postage went up in the period before the election. It's much more likely it took them that time to work out which buttons to press."

A Holyrood spokesman said MSPs were not allowed to send out party political material at parliament expense.

He said: "Parliamentary resources can only be used for parliamentary or constituency purposes. The increase in the cost of mail services and postage takes account of an increased volume of mail sent by members, and it also reflects the new pricing structure that the Royal Mail introduced last year."