AN MP caught up in the parliamentary expenses row has agreed to pay more than £10,000 to the taxman to salvage the “trust and good opinion” of his Sussex constituents.

Bexhill and Battle MP Greg Barker, pictured, was reported to have made £320,000 profit on a London flat bought with the help of taxpayer-funded allowances – but did not pay capital gains tax on the sum.

The Tory climate change spokesman bought the Pimlico flat for £480,000 in November 2004, before selling it for £800,000 in February 2007 and moving to another property he already owned in the capital, which was sold for £525,000 in 2007.

It has emerged that Mr Barker told the Commons the Pimlico flat was his second home – which enabled him to claim thousands of pounds of expenses for it – but told the Inland Revenue it was his main home, which meant he did not have to pay tax on its sale.

Last weekend, when Mr Barker’s actions were revealed by The Daily Telegraph, the MP insisted he had done nothing wrong, arguing that there had been a very substantial sum of his own money involved that he did not claim for, and said the difference in the purchase and sale price did not represent a profit.

However, on Thursday night Mr Barker said he was making a “voluntary payment” to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in respect of capital gains tax.

He said: “Mindful of the example set by David Cameron and the Shadow Cabinet, I have decided to make a voluntary payment to the Inland Revenue of the capital gains tax payable on the sale of both properties that I have owned in London since becoming an MP in 2001.

“It does not matter that all my claims and tax affairs have always been scrupulously within the rules. What counts... is the trust and good opinion of my constituents.”

Mr Barker did not specify how much he would pay to HMRC but a Tory source said it would be a “fivefigure”

sum. Mr Barker said he would no longer claim the second home allowance for mortgage interest payments.

His move comes after Francis Maude, Tory MP for Horsham, was ordered by Conservative Leader David Cameron to stop claiming taxpayers’ money for mortgage payments on a London flat a few minutes’ walk from a house he already owned.

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