TORY peer Ruth Davidson has claimed over £15,000 in allowances and expenses in her first year as a member of the House of Lords, The National can reveal.
The former Scottish Tory leader was ennobled by Boris Johnson and then introduced to Westminster’s second chamber on July 20 2021 as Baroness Davidson of Lundin Links.
Davidson, who stood down at the last Holyrood election to become a life peer, has only attended 34 days according to expense records made publicly available by the Lords.
The claims run five months behind, meaning only 11 months of Davidson’s expenses have been made available so far, from July 2021 to May 2022.
During that period, Davidson attended for 34 days and voted on 36 different divisions on a range of legislation, but only attended 18% of the 194 votes held in the chamber.
Both the SNP and Scottish Greens criticised Davidson for her low attendance and hit out at the “anti-democratic” system she entered into.
The National analysed the claims made by Davidson in the Lords, where members are given an allowance of £323 for each day that they attend, over the 11-month period.
We found that the former MSP was paid £9744 for 34 days attendance and claimed £5716 in expenses.
Davidson claimed back £5303 in taxpayer cash for rail travel, £402 for car expenses, and £11 for one taxi in December 2021.
The peer made her highest amount in one month in February 2022, when she attended for seven days and was paid a £2261 allowance as well as £1027 in expenses.
Tommy Sheppard, the SNP’s constitution spokesperson, said that Davidson’s record so far shows she attended a “very small percentage” of the number of overall votes the Lords had.
The MP added: “My main concern with the House of Lords and Ruth Davidson being a lawmaker is that she’s unelected rather than she gets £15,000 for doing a part-time job for a year.
"For these times of austerity when people are struggling to pay their bills and keep the lights on, getting around £500 in a day in allowances and expenses is a good number isn’t it?
"Most people would be pretty glad of that. An awful lot of people survive on less than that a week and work a full-time job for that.
"I presume this isn’t her regular income and it's a sideline but it’s a pretty lucrative one.”
It emerged earlier this month that four Tory MPs, including Scotland Secretary Alister Jack, will be given peerages in Johnson’s resignation honours list, but have been asked to delay taking up their spot until after the next General Election.
Sheppard added: "My main beef, particularly with Davidson who has fought and won elections, is that she shouldn't be in a legislature without being put there by the people. It's just wrong.
“The recent appointments have turbo-charged the arguments on the scale of Tory cronyism."
Davidson has voted in 34 divisions on nine separate bills during her time in the Lords; including the Nationality and Borders Bill, seven occasions, and the Police, Crime, Sentencing, and Courts Bill on two occasions.
She has not voted on a division since the Elections Bill on April 27 2022, while the Lords have held 21 further ballots between then and October 26.
Davidson has also only given seven spoken contributions to the chamber on issues including assisted dying, Scotland’s economic recovery, and the Tory government’s policy to send asylum seekers to Rwanda.
Meanwhile, she lodged 26 written questions with departments including the Ministry of Defence and Health.
Ross Greer, Scottish Greens MSP, said Davidson “demonstrated her contempt” for voters by taking up the peerage from Johnson.
He added: ”We are all now forced to pay for her lifestyle despite never having elected her to this position and having no opportunity to remove her if we are unhappy with the choices she makes, including the apparent choice to barely turn up at all.
"The real problem isn't Baroness Davidson though, it is the severely dated and anti-democratic system that allows failed politicians, cronies and party donors to live out medieval fantasies and be legislators for the rest of their lives without any democratic accountability.
"With both Labour and the Tories committed to maintaining this ridiculous and broken system, it is clear that the only way that Scotland can ditch the Lords and become a proper functioning democracy is with the powers of a normal independent country."
We previously told how Davidson attended the Lords for around a quarter of the days when it was sitting over a six-month period, while Scottish peers only attended the chamber on average around 50% of the time between September 2021 and February 2022.
Baroness Davidson has been contacted for comment.
