David Mundell MP apologises for expenses mistake

He claimed that he overspent the legal maximum amount purely due to "human error".

He also repulsed Labour calls that he stand down from the post of Deputy Secretary of State for Scotland he was appointed to after Scotland's sole Conservative MP held his Dumfriessshire, Clydesdale and Peebleshire seat with an increased majority in May.

According to official accounts signed by the MP, he stayed just within the maximum expenses limit of 11,814 for campagn costs during the three week blitz.

But, by an apparent oversight, Mr Mundell's staff listed a bill for election advertising in a local newspaper under a heading covering his campaigning expenses from the start of the year — instead of the start of the General Election campaign in April.

That misplaced expense put him over the legal campaign limit by 466.

A Labour Party spokesman called on the MP to "relinquish his ministerial duties until the outcome of an investigation".

But on Monday Mr Mundell said: "I'm very sorry that a mistake has been made in the completion of my election expense forms. This is solely due to human error and not any attempt to mislead.

"Obviously, as soon as it was drawn to my attention, I informed the Electoral Commission."

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