TEIGNBRIDGE MP Richard Younger-Ross has referred himself to the Commissioner for Standards after the Mail on Sunday named him as one of at least a dozen MPs who accepted windfall payments in return for giving up the right to cheap rent or moving out of a block of flats.

Mr Younger-Ross said he had accepted £9,000 in return for losing the right to cheaper rent on his one-bed flat in Dolphin Square, which he leased since 2001.

Mr Younger-Ross has already paid back £4,000 of expenses claimed for furniture, including a top-of-the-range stereo system costing more than £1,100 and four mirrors costing £1,235. He admits he was been 'deeply embarrassed' and that the claims were over the top.

In relation to the windfall payment, the MP insists he had done nothing wrong. He said he paid capital gains tax on the sum and used the remainder to subsidise the cost of running his office in Newton Abbot.

'That lease gave me rights until 2034 which meant that when I retired I would have a cheap flat. When the ownership of Dolphin Square changed the new owners applied to buy us out of those rights.

'They offered us money and I got one of the smaller sums. I was currently spending £2,000 more on my office than covered by allowances. Being able to take this money helped me balance out the cost of my constituency parliamentary office.

'Why would I need extra money for my office? Teignbridge is the fourth largest constituency in the country by elector and at 660 sq miles is one of the largest in the country by geography. I also run nine surgeries a month, which is several more than most of my colleagues.'

He said the story had first been published three years ago.

'From my point of view it is very straightforward. Most of the Liberal Democrats who stayed took the money; two didn't. The rest of us did, we all paid capital gains tax and we have now self-referred to the Commissioner of Standards.'