SOUTH East Cambridgeshire MP Sir Jim Paice will hand back more than £9,000 of mortgage interest payments he claimed on his parliamentary expenses.

Sir Jim, the former farming minister, has agreed to pay the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority £9,177 of the £11,311 he claimed between May 2010 and August 2012.

The money is being paid to cover a proportion of the increased value of his property during that period.

The deal was agreed as part of an arrangement with the standards authority, which banned the use of Commons expenses to pay mortgage interest in the wake of public fury over flipping and other abuses.

As well as Mr Paice, who has not broken any rules, a further 28 MPs are being asked to hand back cash, including Defence Secretary Philip Hammond.

An spokesman for the standards authority said: “One of the most damaging aspects of the expenses scandal was the practice where MPs got taxpayer support to own a second home. That is why we said we would stop this, and we have now done so.”

Sir Jim said: “Nobody is happy to part with money but I’ve agreed a schedule of repayments and I’ve made the first payment.”