EAST Lothian's MP Fiona O'Donnell has defended her claims of nearly £14,500 in expenses � the highest of any Scottish MP � during her first three-and-a-half months as the county's Westminster representative. Expenses watchdog the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) has released details of 22,000 claims submitted by MPs between May 7 and August 31.

During that period, Ms O'Donnell claimed £14,450.87 including more than £6,000 connected with her constituency office � including £1,680 spent on office furniture and £325 on stationery � and surgery advertising, as well as £490.50 for interim hotel accommodation in London and £6,138 for renting a property in London. In total, the Labour MP claimed £927.50 in travel expenses.

Ms O'Donnell's predecessor, Anne Moffat, Labour MP for East Lothian from 2001-2010, was widely criticised after billing the taxpayer for nearly £40,000 in travel costs between 2003 and 2004 � the highest claim of the year.

However, Ms O'Donnell stated it would be "inaccurate" to make comparisons between her expenses and Ms Moffat's until all claims for the 2010/11 period were known.

Though she stated that she could "absolutely understand" that her East Lothian constituents might have concerns over the high costs she had incurred since her election in May, Ms O'Donnell insisted that her claims were "justified" and necessary for her to establish a base in the county as a first-time MP. She said: "I know this is a very controversial issue because of past abuses but I want people to know that I have never, ever made any personal gain and fully support complete public information of all MP claims.

"I wanted to provide a first-class service to my constituents from day one and quickly established an office and held surgeries across the county. This meant that as a new MP I had additional costs, such as office furniture and advertising surgeries in the local press, which returning MPs wouldn't have. I was very quick in setting up my office and I know that some of the new MPs had problems and took longer to establish bases for themselves.

"I am 100 per cent confident that all my claims are justified.

"I have claimed for travel to Westminster, rent for a small flat in London, and for office costs and am happy to respond to any questions relating to these claims which are part of a much stricter regulated system.

"It is important to remember that we don't have a full picture at this stage of all the claims relating to this period. Until we have all the claims published it isn't possible to make proper and accurate comparisons." She continued: "Since my election my office has helped hundreds of constituents and many have been in touch to thank my great staff in Tranent.

"I closely monitor myself, being careful and considering the cheapest option and best value for money and whether it is something that I actually need. For example, when buying office furniture I didn't claim for any leather sofas but instead very simple chairs, like you would find in a GP's surgery.

"If I know that the people who elected me are facing tough times then it would be wrong of me to put across that I am any different from them." She added that as far as her future expenses were concerned that "the next quarter and further beyond that will be a very different picture".

The leader of East Lothian Council, SNP Councillor Paul McLennan, wrote to the Courier this week slamming Ms O'Donnell's expenses.

He said: Our previous MP Anne Moffat got pilloried for claiming under £40,000 in one year, not only by commentators, but by her own party and indeed this was used as an issue to get rid of her.

"But Fiona has already claimed £14,450 for this period of May 7 - August 31 which includes the Westminster summer break.

"So far, she is recorded as having spoken in 16 debates and participated in 70 per cent of votes - both below average for MPs, so she can't have been at Westminster all that much.

"Yet, if you annualise Fiona's £14,450 expenses by extrapolating that monthly rate, you come to £49,542, a whopping 25 per cent ahead of Anne at her spendthrift worst (£39,744 in 2003/4).

"All this when the culture of excess at Westminster appears to be over as new figures show that MPs are charging the taxpayer £1 million a month for their expenses compared with £8m before the General Election � a drop of almost 88 per cent. The overall total for the three-and-a-half months since May is £3.1m, in sharp contrast to the £96m paid out last year." "It's also worth noting that she has claimed over twice the SNP average (of £7,007, with 6 MPS). "This is also in stark contrast to the SNP/Lib Dem East Lothian Council where councillors' expenses have almost halved from 66.4k to 34.4k in total per annum since the SNP/Lib Dem coalition took over the administration in 2007.

"East Lothian Labour are yet again dragging East Lothian`s name through the mud.

"At a time of austerity can East Lothian afford Labours ongoing disregard for the public. Have East Lothian punters simply jumped out of Anne's expense frying pan into Fiona's fiscal fire?"