Wendy Alexander has said MSPs' support staffing should be boosted by at least half.

The Labour leader at Holyrood is one of several MSPs complaining that they are not funded to provide an adequate service to constituents.

As MSP for Paisley North, Ms Alexander wants to employ three staff instead of two, while she also wants a review of the support given to opposition party leaders.

Ms Alexander has been joined by several other MSPs responding to the current review of MSP expenses, saying they should be able to pay their support staff more generously, with progression as they become more experienced and with funds for training. It is suggested by many of them that they should have their pay and conditions set centrally while remaining the employees of individual MSPs.

Many of the MSPs have highlighted the more generous funding for Westminster MPs while claiming they have a much lower caseload from constituents, and that communications with constituents by MPs has 10 times more funding and is not at the expense of staff salaries.

Ms Alexander wrote in her submission: "On average, an MSPs' casework is likely to be much more significant than that of an MP. We are not resourced to deal with the level of casework required, nor are we able to reward our staff appropriately for the increasing volume or complexity of the work they undertake."

Her Labour colleague, Jackie Baillie, said her office staff are handling 60 cases each week, with her surgeries adding up to 40 extra cases each month, and MSPs receiving an average of 100 e-mails each day.

Labour's justice spokeswoman, Pauline McNeill, has complained the lack of staff means she has to write all her own speeches.

The review, chaired by Dundee University Principal Sir Alan Langlands, was set up by the parliament to address strong media and public criticism of the expenses system, and particularly the payment of mortgage interest payments for MSPs who buy property in Edinburgh to live in during their working week.