THE region's MPs faced fresh expenses embarrassment yesterday, when it was revealed they have been told to repay nearly £45,000 that was wrongly claimed.

A long-awaited five-year audit which condemned the allowances system as "deeply flawed" ordered 16 MPs in Merseyside and Cheshire to refund the taxpayer.

Expenses were wrongly claimed for everything from excessive gardening and cleaning bills to petty cash payments and a fridge-freezer costing a startling £1,229.

Some MPs who were told to repay large chunks of their mortgage interest claims are known to be furious that the auditor, Sir Thomas Legg, applied the rules too harshly.

Three MPs in the Merseyside area Frank Field (Lab; Birkenhead), Andrew Miller (Lab; Ellesmere Port and Neston) and Bob Wareing (Ind Lab; Liverpool West Derby) were among 44 who reduced their repayments after launching appeals.

Most MPs have already refunded the fees office, but Mr Wareing still owes £3,676.14, which must be repaid by February 22 or his pay will be docked.

The MP could not be contacted last night.

The biggest bill in the region was owed by Mike Hall (Lab; Weaver Vale) a whopping £12,639.28 for, among other things, excessive cleaning bills (£2,364.28) and 'household sundries' claimed without receipts (£8,789).

Mr Hall, who announced this week that he was standing down at the election, was the only local MP whose appeal was dismissed outright, by High Court Judge Sir Paul Kennedy.