Consumer affairs minister Nigel Griffiths has been cleared of serious wrong-doing in a row over payments for his constituency office.

However, the Scottish National Party has renewed its claims for him to be sacked, pointing out that former parliamentary standards commissioner, Elizabeth Filkin, upheld all four of the complaints made against him.

Griffiths failed to register the £10,000 a year he claimed for his constituency office, which he bought outright in 1997, and also failed to register the £4800 paid to him by the MSP Angus MacKay, who shares his constituency office.

The standards and privileges committee concluded that the Edinburgh South MP used his constituency office for party political purposes without informing the House of Commons Fees Office, and failed to explicitly reimburse the Fees Office for the party political use of his constituency office.

"Mr Griffiths's claims against the Office Costs Allowance were technically defective but we are satisfied that this did not mean he received from public funds more than that to which he was entitled," said the committee.

In her report to the committee, Filkin concluded that Griffiths was guilty of using his constituency office for party political purposes without informing the Fees Office, failed to reimburse the Fees Office for party political use of offices, failed to register property and rental income and misused House of Commons allowances.

But the standards committee said that at the time of the alleged breach of the rules, there was no rule prohibiting MPs from claiming rent from the Office Costs Allowance for property they owned. "Mr Griffiths was therefore free to do as he wished with the rental income he received."

In a conclusion that will come as a relief to Griffiths, whose ministerial career had been under threat when the row first broke last December, the committee recommended that no further action should be taken against him.

Griffiths said in a statement: "I am grateful to both Elizabeth Filkin and the committee for the swiftness and thoroughness of their report. I am delighted that they recommended that no action be taken."

The SNP called on Tony Blair to sack the minister if he fails to resign.

The party's chief whip at Westminster, Pete Wishart, said Filkin's report was grounds for dismissal.

"This is a devastating report from the Standards Commissioner. It upholds all four complaints against Nigel Griffiths," he said.

"He should offer his immediate resignation as a minister, as this report shows that he is unfit to hold ministerial office. If he will not resign then Tony Blair should sack him."

Wishart attacked the decision of the standards committee to recommend no further action, pointing out that seven of the 11 members were Labour MPs.

Wishart said: "The fact that the Labour-majority standards committee recommend that no further action be taken against Nigel Griffiths simply brings the Westminster system into disrepute."

"Instead of a partisan Standards Committee which overturns reports of the standards commissioner, this discredited committee should be scrapped withthe standards commissioner reporting directly to parliament."