Published: Friday, 29th May, 2009 11:25am

Food and drink bill repaid by MP

TWEEDDALE MP David Mundell has this week repaid overclaimed expenses cash.

But, unlike his dodgy colleagues, the Tory member carried out his own audit investigation - he has now published details of every penny he"s claimed since becoming a Member of Parliament back in 2005 on his own website.

During a lengthy comb through his expense claims, submitted in the past five years, Mr Mundell discovered a food and drinks bill for his staff that should have been paid from his own pocket that had been forwarded to the Fees Office.

He has now paid back the sum of £74.88.

But the former MSP, who sat in Holyrood between 1999 and 2005, is still apologising.

He told the Peeblesshire News: 'My biggest regret is not doing more about this whole issue of MPs expenses.

'I didn"t give the issue the priority it deserves - when this was being discussed in Parliament I was in my constituency. I felt more effective in my constituency and along with many others didn"t partake in the debates. For that I am sorry.

'Compared to many, my oversight of the food and drinks bill may not be much, but if you are checking your figures and you find something wrong it is your duty to fix it - this is what I have done.'

The Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale member isn"t on the Daily Telegraph"s growing list of named and shamed politicians who have ripped off the system.

But the 47-year-old, who became Scotland"s only Conservative MP at the last General Election, still held a series of public meetings this week to answer the critics.

And he openly apologised for allowing an expenses system, which was open to abuse, continue in Parliament.

Mr Mundell added: 'I assured the meeting that my main home has always been in Moffat and, when I am in London attending Parliament, I rent a flat.

'Accordingly I have not flipped my second home so that I could claim for stamp duty, furniture and renovations for several houses. In fact, I have never claimed for any of these items at all.

'Like several of my colleagues, I felt that I had a responsibility to go back to my constituents - the people who put me in Parliament in the first place."

Mr Mundell's full list of expenses is available on his website at www.davidmundell.com