A Fife MP has defended his decision not to reveal details of his London landlord receiving taxpayers’ money.
Labour’s Thomas Docherty, who represents Dunfermline and West Fife, rents a property in the UK capital so he can carry out his duties in Westminster, in accordance with Parliamentary rules.
However, he and Perth and North Perthshire SNP representative Pete Wishart were two of the 51 MPs who refused to say who they paid for their accommodation following a Freedom of Information request.
Mr Docherty said he was not ”profiteering” through the system as some MPs have been accused of after it emerged they were renting from close contacts. However, he again refused to say who his landlord was when questioned by The Courier.
He said: ”I’m more than happy to confirm that my landlord is not a family relation, friend, associate or fellow MP.
”The issue is I’m not prepared to give away my address. There is absolutely no public interest in knowing my home address and the security advice that my colleagues and I have had is that we shouldn’t give away our home addresses.”
Mr Docherty said the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority would be ”all over you in seven seconds” if there was any wrongdoing.
He added: ”The public has an absolute right to know I’m not profiteering, which I have now made clear. What we need is a bit of paperwork to declare: ‘My landlord is not a friend, family member or associate’.”
He added: ”There are some very troubled individuals out there. You have got one of my colleagues who had a stalker and another who was knifed at his surgery.”
Despite repeated attempts to contact him, Mr Wishart had not responded to The Courier’s request for an interview at the time of going to press.