‘Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the Sunday Herald story and its inaccuracies.

First of all the story suggested my wife was paid £6000 or £7000 when the real figure is in the region of £4000 based on one hour per day. My wife provides a valuable service to me in terms of monitoring the local newspapers and the Press & Journal in my region of the Highlands & Islands which stretches from Campbeltown in the South to Shetland in the far North.

Many of the issues that she highlights are ones that I then investigate or become involved in. The Sunday Herald story suggested that our Press & Research unit provides a comprehensive media monitoring service; in fact it provides a summary only of the national newspapers and not the local and regional editions of newspapers which are so important in my region.

My employment of my wife- which I publicly declare in the relevant Register- is wholly within the rules of Parliament and indeed 26 other MSPs also employ relatives. I do not make up the rules of the Parliament but I certainly stay within them.

I love being a representative for the Highlands & Islands and I suppose occasional criticism from time to time is expected for politicians but the focus on my expenses in recent times- all of which are completely within the rules of Parliament- might lead some people to suggest someone has perhaps got it in for me at the moment’.

With relation to Jamie McGrigor’s travelling expenses, his office has informed For Argyll that a large part of his expenses was in car  mileage. McGrigor;s comment on this is: ‘Being based in Argyll and covering the whole Highlands and Islands region between the bottom of Kintyre and the furthest tip of Shetland means I have a huge mileage in pursuance of work on behalf of my constituents.

People living in the Highlands & Islands will understand the distances involved. I try to minimise travel costs wherever possible but do not wish to do so at the expense of being able to represent my constituents as effectively as possible’.

On the matter of his Edinburgh accommodation, Jamie McGrigor’s office simply repeats the statement issued when this was featured in a previous press article in 2008: ‘The rent being charged to the Parliament is fully documented, fully approved and fully within the rules of Parliament’.

Footnote: For Argyll understands that this morning Jamie McGrigor drove from his home in Dalmally in northern Argyll to Acharacle on the Ardnamurchan peninsula, in wintry conditions, to fulfil a promise to speak to primary schoolchildren there.