STAFFORDSHIRE Moorlands MP Charlotte Atkins has repaid more than £10,000 to the House of Commons Fees Office – but will not tell taxpayers why she has paid the money back or what it bought.

The Labour MP claimed the money as part of the second home allowance for her Leek home between April last year and the end of March.

But last year's expenses are yet to be made public by Parliament and Ms Atkins is remaining tight-lipped about the exact details.

She will only say that she voluntarily chose to pay the money back after the Prime Minister changed the rules on what could be claimed for earlier this year.

Her repayment is included in a list of dozens of MPs who have paid cash back since the expenses scandal was first revealed last month.

In a statement, Ms Atkins said: "In advance of finalising my 2008/09 claims Gordon Brown created new rules.

"I decided to retrospectively apply them to the claim I had recently submitted."

The £10,226.50 paid back by Ms Atkins does not include any of the £87,702 she claimed through her second home allowance between 2004 and 2007.

Claims included charging taxpayers £9,383 for a new bathroom, complete with Minton Hollins tiles and a Dorchester bath, at her Leek home, £4,017 for guttering and the rebuilding of a chimney, £5,388 for cleaners and £645 for loft insulation.

Ms Atkins also received £500 a month for six months in 2003/04 to pay for security measures, including putting metal bars on her windows to protect her during the fox-hunting debate.

But last month the three party leaders agreed on an immediate ban on second home claims for furniture, cleaning and stamp duty.

In addition MPs can no longer "flip" the designation of their second home and a cap was put on mortgage payments.

It is not known when the 2008/09 expenses will be published.

Meanwhile, Stoke-on-Trent North MP Joan Walley has also repaid money to the Fees Office – £324.93 for electricity charges she says were given back to her by her power company.

She said: "I pay my electricity bill through a standing order and when they came out to inspect the meter they found I had been overpaying over a period.

"They credited my account and I paid that money back to the Fees Office."

News of Ms Walley's repayment comes as her expenses reveal she also claimed £104,389.96 in office costs over the last four years. Most of her claims were to pay for phone bills, printing, energy bills, and office stationery and supplies.

They include £721.74 for Dell computer equipment in March 2006 and £171.90 on a digital camera months later.

Ms Walley also claimed around £17,000 to produce her MP reports over four years, £3,000 on a management consultant for constituency work and research services and £1,200 to pay for second class stamps.

Ms Walley had claimed £60,267.07 in expenses for her second home over the same period.

Asked about her office costs, Ms Walley said: "I run a constituency office in the heart of my constituency which I staff and devote the allowances I have to running the services my constituents expect and deserve.

"Every penny has been necessary for a well-run constituency office."

The Sentinel has already reported that Stone MP Bill Cash has agreed to repay about £15,000 and Stafford MP David Kidney paid back £2,427.82 after claming for too many council tax and water rate bills.

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