ONE of the region's MPs will hand £2,200 to a local charity - after admitting his constituents might regard his expenses claims as "extravagant".

Iain Wright, the Hartlepool MP, said the donation would cover the cost of a sofa (£1,632) and a stereo system (£577) that he bought for his London home.

The MP, now the apprenticeships minister, insisted he had done nothing wrong in buying the items, describing the system that allowed him to do so as "lax and flabby".

And he explained he had decided to make a donation to charity - rather than pay back money to the Commons fees office - to emphasise that he was in the job "for the people of Hartlepool".

Mr Wright came under fire early in the expenses saga, when the Daily Telegraph used its leak of receipts to highlight his claims for furnishings for a home before he had bought it.

However, the fees office cleared the claims - which included £1,200 for items bedding and kitchen equipment - and the MP said his donation was unrelated to that issue.

Instead, Mr Wright said: "I would be mortified if anyone accused me of being extravagant, or accused me of not being in it for the people of Hartlepool.

"I became an MP to give something back to the people of Hartlepool - not to take something away from them - but people may be unhappy about specific claims that I made.

"I have not done anything wrong, or claimed for anything I was not entitled to, but I reflected on these two items that I bought and decided this was the right thing to do."

The Northern Echo revealed at the weekend that the region's MPs had paid back nearly £10,000 to the Commons fees office - a chunk of £478,616 returned by MPs across the country.

But Mr Wright said: "If my donation went back to the fees office, it would simply go back into a central pot - and the people of Hartlepool would not benefit."

The MP declined to name the charity that would receive the £2,200, insisting he did not want to "milk publicity", adding: "There will be no cheque presentation."

After winning a by-election in 2004, the Hartlepool MP bought a half-share in what he called "a small two-bedroomed flat" with Tom Watson, a fellow Labour MP who quit the government two weeks ago.