During 2012/2013 all 129 MSPs claimed £11,633 for meeting expenses while the MSP claimed £2,720.21 — 24 per cent of the overall total.

So far for the period 2013/14, all 129 MSPs have claimed £6,374.01 while Ms Baillie has claimed £1,910.33 — 30 per cent of the total amount.

When further examined, these meeting expenses are expenditures on meals of varying cost and size from restaurants in the Scottish Parliament. However, the MSP says her claims are perfectly legitimate and are for the benefit of her constituents.

Ms Baillie said: “Every single penny of my meeting expenses goes towards my constituents and does not benefit me personally. When residents, schools and community groups visit the parliament in Edinburgh they often spend up to four hours travelling. The least they deserve is lunch in the Members’ Restaurant.

“I actively encourage groups to visit because the parliament belongs to them, not to MSPs, and I am delighted that they want to come and see First Minister’s Questions.

“I have always been open about my expenses and full details are regularly published on the Scottish Parliament’s website.” However, Bill Beattie, who first raised the issue with the Reporter and has lived in the area for 45 years, said the MSP’s expenses are ‘outrageous’. He said: “Jackie Baille has no choice but to be open about her expenses, it is part of the parliament’s rules that they be published on the internet.

“I find it outrageous that an MSP who shouts about food banks and poverty has the brass neck to then claim tax payers money for cheese boards and desserts” “If it was legitimate to claim these expenses on an almost weekly basis then why are all MSPs not doing it, why is Jackie’s expenses for meals and drinks increasing while the parliament’s as a whole is decreasing?

“I have asked Jackie this, but I have received no reply.”