The minister said he had complied fully with the allowance system

Mr Stevenson insisted he did not break any rules by selling his mortgage-free Linlithgow home then taking out a mortgage on another just yards away.

The Sunday Herald said the Banff and Buchan MSP had claimed more than �15,000 for the property since 2003.

Mr Stevenson said he had complied fully with the Holyrood allowances system.

The minister, who was first elected in 2001, hit out at claims he had made the transaction in order to benefit from the Edinburgh Accommodation Allowance (EAA).

It is the latest controversy related to the allowance system, which enables some MSPs to claim the mortgage interest for a home in or near the capital.

The sale of my home in Linlithgow had nothing whatever to do with the allowances system Stewart Stevenson

The Sunday Herald reported that the MSP bought a farmhouse in Banff and Buchan in late 2002, to ensure his main residence was in his constituency.

The paper stated that he then sold his three-storey family home in Linlithgow, which he bought in 1974, in May 2003 for �282,000.

Weeks later, Mr Stevenson bought another home in Linlithgow for �170,000.

The house was eligible for the scheme and the minister started to claim expenses on the property, claimed The Sunday Herald.

In the financial year after buying the home, the MSP claimed �4,198 in interest payments, �2,683 in legal costs and �628 for council tax.

Family home

Mr Stevenson has claimed nearly �22,000 under the allowance, of which around �15,000 is in mortgage interest subsidies, in three years.

He said: "The sale of my home in Linlithgow had nothing whatever to do with the allowances system.

"It was a family home held over 30 years, which at no stage received support.

"The move to Banffshire was the result of becoming a constituency MSP in 2001, and I believed it was proper to have my family home in the constituency."

Mr Stevenson said that he had purchased the second property in Linlithgow in order to ensure he had a home in or around Edinburgh to fulfil parliamentary duties.