IRVINE’S two MSPs claimed less in expenses than they did last year.

It’s been revealed that Cunninghame South politician Margaret Burgess and her West Region counterpart Margaret McDougall respectively claimed £2,666 and £4,394 less in expenses for 2014-15.

Overall, Mrs Burgess claimed back £26,624.76, down from £29,291.66 in 2013-14, while Mrs McDougall turned in a claim for £20,188.48 compared with £24,582.11 the previous year.

The bulk of their expenses came from utilities and rental expenditure.

The Labour MSP claimed a total of £6,962 on hotel accommodation, including two night and three night stays costing £290 and £345 respectively, as well as £650.85 for hotel evening meals.

Claims were also made for £5,400 in office rent, £174.71 in taxi fares, £136.30 for newspaper subscriptions, mailing costs totalling £193.83 and £1,653 in utilities.

In addition, Mrs McDougall claimed back 43p for a stamp as well as £31.87 and £32.05 for two 750g tins of Nescafe coffee as part of business meeting expenses.

But the politician, who like Mrs Burgess is standing down at next year’s Holyrood election, produced a cheaper phone bill than her SNP rival.

Mrs Burgess claimed a phone bill of £75 in comparison to Mrs McDougall’s £66.

Rent for the Cunninghame South politician’s Edinburgh accommodation came in at £8,100, £8,750 was claimed in office rent with £2,914 in utilities.

Mrs Burgess also claimed back £1,038 for her office window cleaning, £927 for hall hires, £22 for key cutting and a £39.99 claim for an iPad case.

In total, MSPs pocketed £12.49m in the last financial year which is a drop of two per cent on the previous year – the equivalent of £25,238.

A spokesman for Mrs Burgess said: “Margaret Burgess claims the expense of accommodation in Edinburgh as she is required to be there three days a week. Renting is much cheaper than three nights a week in a hotel.

“Other claims are the running costs of the constituency office including rent and utilities. Margaret does not make any claim for mileage or for any other expenditure while carrying out constituency duties.” Commenting on her expenses, Margaret McDougall MSP said: “The Scottish Parliament expenses system is open and transparent and a full breakdown of my expenses is available on the website.

“As a Regional MSP I have a larger area to cover and no ministerial car, however, I’m pleased that I have managed to reduce running costs this year while many other MSPs saw an increase."