MAKERFIELD Labour MP Ian McCartney is standing down at the next general election, citing health problems.

Announcing his decision in a statement, he made no reference to the expenses scandal that has prompted a number of MPs to retire.

But his move comes within days of his disclosure that he paid back almost £15,000 worth of his own expenses claims last year, saying that the system had put his reputation at risk.

Items purchased at the taxpayers' expense include an 18-piece dinner set, champagne flutes and wine glasses, a £700 dining table and chairs and two sofas worth £1,328.

Today he said he had been urged by his family last December to take early retirement.

"They have taken the brunt of the worry over my health in the past few years and have watched me agonise over what is for me a truly traumatic decision of retiring early from the only job I have ever loved and wanted to do," he said.

"I want to thank the NHS, and its staff at every level, over many years they've kept me together and on more than one occasion kept me alive and hopefully will keep me going in the time ahead.

"Despite my continued health problems I was very reluctant to give up a lifetime of public service and a vocation which I had poured so much genuine effort and commitment in to.

"Speaking up and out for others is in my DNA; it's what the McCartney family instinctively does."

Mr McCartney has been MP for Makerfield since 1987.

His constituency chairman, Billy Rotherham, said he was an "extraordinary man" and a "superb" constituency MP whom he had urged not to quit.

"I tried to persuade him to stay on because we'd rather have a half-fit Ian McCartney than no Ian McCartney at all," Mr Rotherham said.

After Mr McCartney's expenses claims were disclosed by the Daily Telegraph this week, he said he was "appalled" that his reputation could be undermined by "misrepresentations, misunderstandings or, as I genuinely accept, real concerns and revulsion about the failings of the system of MPs' expenses".

He added: "This is a system that has put at risk the reputation of dedicated public servants like me."