THE region's MPs were counting the cost of the expenses scandal last night – as it emerged they have paid back more than £3,500 to the Commons fees office.

Eight Merseyside and North Cheshire MPs are among nearly 200 across the country who have collectively returned £478,616 since the crisis began in May.

Last night, that figure was set to rise even further, as the Commons authorities prepared to update the list following the latest flurry of expenses revelations.

Top of the payback list in Merseyside and Cheshire is the scandal-hit Ben Chapman (Wirral South), who has already been forced to quit at the next election because of his "phantom" £15,000 mortgage.

Last week, the Daily Post revealed that Mr Chapman claimed £5.50 for an ice cream scoop and £19.80 for a loo roll holder – as well as £1,943 for Old Tuscan tiles, as part of an £8,071 bill for building a shower room. Now the Wirral South MP has paid back a whopping £1,196.88 to the fees office.

Last night, he was declining to return calls to explain why.

Mr Chapman just pipped George Osborne (Tatton) – the man who expects to be Chancellor if the Conservatives win power – who has returned £1,195.49 he wrongly claimed.

It was already known that Mr Osborne had paid back £440.62 for a chauffeur to take him from Cheshire to London, in November, 2005.

Now he has also refunded £654.91 and £99.96, which his spokesman said covered a change to the way he paid his property insurance and an "'administrative error" in a mortgage claim.

Parliament's sleaze watchdog is considering an investigation into Mr Osborne's mortgage claims on his Tatton home, after it received a complaint that it was mortgaged for more than he paid for it.