THE Electoral Commission have told Alex Cole-Hamilton to calm down after the excitable LibDem claimed he been cleared of cheating charges.

The LibDem MSP has been the subject of a lengthy probe by the Electoral Commission in a row over undelivered election leaflets.

Cole-Hamilton had been accused of breaching strict limits on spending at the last Holyrood election.

But the party argued that thousands of leaflets had not been delivered, and so their cost should not count towards the total cost campaign spending.

In a letter to the LibDems, which Cole-Hamilton shared with press, the Electoral Commission confirmed that there had been no breach of the rules over the leaflets.

The letter stated: "We queried the apportionments in respect of a number of leaflets that had been distributed in the constituency.

"In view of the responses to this aspect of the investigation, we are satisfied that there were no breaches in respect of the apportionments."

A spokeswoman for the commission told press, however, that a wider investigation over costs attributed to the party Scotland-wide and to Cole-Hamilton's constituency campaign, was still ongoing.

"In line with our regulatory responsibilities the investigation we opened was into the Liberal Democrat Party's spending return from the 2016 Scottish Parliament election and this investigation has yet to conclude,” she said.

"Mr Cole-Hamilton has taken the unusual step of sharing extracts from a letter which the commission sent to the Liberal Democrats.

"Our investigation is ongoing. We will publish the outcome when it is concluded but until then we have no further comment to make on what is a live matter."

Last October the Crown Office said dropped legal action against Cole-Hamilton after a "full and careful" look at the case.

And just last month, police scrapped their inquiry into LibDem deputy leader Jo Swinson after finding no criminality.

Cole-Hamilton said: "I learned this morning that the Electoral Commission have concluded an investigation into my 2016 election spending and found no irregularities with my return.

"Members of West Edinburgh SNP had made an allegation to them immediately after a 15-month police investigation (which the SNP also initiated) determined I had no case to answer.

"All told the SNP have seen me subjected to two taxpayer-funded investigations spanning a total of 27 months.

"While the cost to the public purse of these is hard to quantify, the waste of police time in particular is inexcusable."

He added: "To suffer an unexpected and heavy defeat is hard, but that's politics.

"To then meet that defeat with a complaint to overstretched police officers, is a wilful disregard of both the democratic process and the public good.

"I hope the SNP reflect on that as defeat becomes more commonplace to them."