BASILDON MP Angela Smith has paid back more than £1,000 of wrongly claimed expenses on her second home.

The Labour minister has joined a growing list of MPs who have paid back money, but says she spotted the mistake and volunteered the repayment, rather than being told to cough up.

Mrs Smith paid back money, which she accepts she wrongly claimed for council tax payments and service charges on her two-bedroom Elephant and Castle flat, jointly owned with husband, Basildon Labour councillor Nigel Smith.

Mrs Smith put in claims for 12 months worth of council tax and service charges when she had only actually had to pay for ten months during those years.

She admits being at fault, but says the fees office is also partially to blame for not spotting the discrepancies, because she also put in the annual bills, which showed the differing amount she should have claimed for the periods concerned.

Mrs Smith said: “I wrongly claimed it, so I have paid it back, but I did not have to pay it back.

“I identified the mistake going through the accounts and realised I sometimes claimed for 12 months when there had actually been ten.”

Mrs Smith claimed £5,581 for mobile phones over the four years, including two replacements and charges. The biggest monthly bill was £325.

She claimed £1,661 in petty cash, plus a small number of claims for photographs and two digital cameras totalling £576.

Mrs Smith said she queried the £325 phone bill, then switched to a cheaper contract.