SHADOW chancellor George Osborne has been ordered to repay £1,666 after a House of Commons watchdog found that he had breached expenses rules over claims for the mortgage on his second home in Cheshire.

But the cross-party Commons Standards and Privileges Committee found that the breach was 'unintended and relatively minor'.

Commons Standards Commissioner John Lyon conducted an investigation into Mr Osborne’s claims after complaints that he claimed for the interest on a £450,000 mortgage on his farmhouse when the property cost him only £445,000.

He found that the Tatton MP was overpaid a total of £1,936, of which he has already repaid £270. The report by the Standards and Privileges Committee recommended that he should hand back the remainder.

In a letter to the committee chairman earlier this week, Mr Osborne said he was happy to accept Mr Lyon’s conclusions and made clear he had already offered to return the overpayment in full.

Responding to Thursday’s ruling, the shadow chancellor said: “I am happy to accept the Committee’s report. I am glad that they acknowledge that any breaches of the rules were not intentional, not major, and did not provide me with any significant financial benefit.

Minimise

“As the Committee appreciate, I always sought to minimise the cost of my expenses to the taxpayer, and followed the advice I was given. The Committee has now decided that advice was flawed.

“Last year I offered to pay back any money that had been inadvertently overclaimed due to the flawed advice I received, and the Committee has accepted that offer.

“I understand the damage the expenses crisis has done to Parliament, and the paramount importance of restoring trust in our politics. I want to ensure that the claims I have made are entirely beyond reproach.”

Laurie Burton, chairman of the Constituency Labour Party in Tatton, said: "This is like deja vu all over again.

"When Neil Hamilton's financial exploits were questioned, he said that he had done nothing wrong. George Osborne said the same.

"Neil Hamilton said the accusations were politically motivated. George Osborne said the same.

"And when he was found to have done something wrong, Neil Hamilton said it was unintentional. George Osborne has said the same.

"If he can't get his own finances in order, how can he expect to run those of the country?"

Richard Jackson, Labour's parliamentarycandidate for Tatton, said: "This development is the latest in a long list of embarrassing episodes for George’s Tatton constituents.

"In 2003 he flipped his designated second home and subsequently avoided Capital Gains Tax on the £748,000 profit he made on his London home. In 2008 we had the Commons Standards Commissioner rebuking him for failing to declare £500,000 of donations and the Russian billionaire episode on the Corfu yacht.

"In 2009 he was censured because his taxpayer-funded personal website was too political, we had the £800 to spring clean his Peak District house and the £440 chauffeur driven journey back to London.

"And now, yet again, he is having to repay money to the taxpayer. With this record of misjudgment and inability to do simple maths and administration, Tatton residents must be wondering whether George, before aspiring to higher office, should concentrate more on his constituency responsibilities."