Sir – During the last local elections, a constant stream of leaflets from the Liberal Democrats besieged my letterbox.

All had a constant theme that the scandal of MP’s expenses was largely due to Labour and Conservative MPs and that bar the odd aberration or two, the Liberal Democrats were whiter than driven snow.

I was somewhat surprised when, at the end of last week (June 19), the Parliamentary Office responsible for these records published the following figures.

Firstly 32 per cent of Conservative MPs had paid back money wrongly claimed, at an average of £216 per head.

Secondly, 25 per cent of Labour MPs had paid money back at an average of £320 per head. This is, in itself, a scandal, but when I read the figures for the self-proclaimed squeaky-clean Liberal Democrats, I shuddered. Forty per cent of their MPs had paid back an average of £1,040 per head.

Indeed, my Member of Parliament, Dr Evan Harris, had paid back £4,000, which is nearly 400 per cent above the average of the other Liberal Democrat MPs.

These figures were later published in the national press and have not been refuted.

The truth is that this whole episode has damaged our democratic institutions and in that the three main parties have been guilty of this charge, but it is worth recalling that according to these figures, the Liberal Democrats had the worst record, not the best as they proclaim.

John Power, Oxford