By Steve Bargeton, political editor

FIFE COUNCILLOR Andrew Arbuckle will be sworn in as Scotland’s newest MSP following the surprise resignation of Keith Raffan at the weekend.

Mr Raffan, who was at the centre of a political storm after topping the league table of MSPs’ expenses with a claim of almost £109,000, quit as the Liberal Democrat list member for Mid Scotland and Fife citing “continuing ill health.”

As the second-placed Liberal Democrat on the list for the regional constituency, Mr Arbuckle automatically becomes an MSP without an election.

Mr Arbuckle (60), the farming editor of The Courier, has been a Fife councillor since 1986 and represents the Newburgh and Tay Coast ward.

After consulting friends and colleagues over the weekend he last night confirmed that he will be joining the Liberal Democrat group at Holyrood, but also intends to remain as a councillor.

“With my farming background one of my ambitions as an MSP will be to ensure that our rural areas are treated fairly,” he said.

“Another area in which I have an interest is local government where there are often tensions between councils and the Executive.

“I think there has to be a better balance between the two.”

Mr Arbuckle, who admitted that he had not yet visited the new parliament building at Holyrood, said that he believed there was a huge job still to be done by MSPs in general to earn the respect of the public.

“The Holyrood fiasco got the parliament off to the worst possible start,” he said,

“I believe there is a still a lot of work to be done making the Scottish Parliament acceptable and accepted and for MSPs to prove their worth.

“One of the things that MSPs have to do is to prove that they are value for money.”

Mr Arbuckle said he planned to continue serving as a Fife councillor.

He explained that when he won the Newburgh and Tay Coast ward at the last local government elections, in 2003, he entered into a “four-year contract” with the people that he represents.

Mr Arbuckle added, “In my ward of Newburgh and Tay Coast there are a number of unfinished projects and a number of issues I would like to see resolved.

“In short, there is a lot of unfinished business.”

Mr Arbuckle is also chairman of Fife Council’s standards and audit committee, which carries a special responsibility allowance.

Last night he said he had no intention of continuing to take the full councillors’ allowance once he becomes an MSP.

MSPs return to Holyrood tomorrow buzzing with the news that another MSP has thrown in the towel.

Although Mr Raffan has cited ill health as his reason for quitting, several MSPs were last night suggesting that his resignation and the fact that he clocked up staggering travel expenses of over £40,000 last year—twice that of the next highest member—are not unconnected.

Several newspapers, including The Courier, have requested details of Mr Raffan’s travel claims over the last three years from the Scottish Parliament.

Formal requests have been made under the provisions of the new Freedom of Information legislation.