LIVERPOOL MP Bob Wareing has reluctantly agreed to repay expenses totalling more than £3,500 – two weeks after vowing to defy a final demand.

The former Labour MP for West Derby, who now sits as an Independent after being deselected, will pay up in five instalments, after backing down.

But Mr Wareing continued to express fury about the demand, made by auditor Sir Thomas Legg, saying: “I am still very upset about it – I think it is criminal.”

The Daily Post revealed earlier this month how the veteran 79-year-old had become the first MP in the country to publicly declare defiance, since final repayment demands topping £1m were issued.

The stance left him at risk of having his salary docked if he failed to make arrangements to pay by yesterday, a deadline set by Commons leader Harriet Harman.

The total of £3,676.14 is made up of excessive cleaning costs (£1,462.58), mortgage overpayments (£917.26) and other expenses mistakenly paid twice (£1,296.30).

Mr Wareing was among 73 MPs who appealed to a high court judge, Sir Paul Kennedy.

But just £215.86 was cut from the original repayment demand of £3,892.

Two weeks ago, the MP said: “I am just going to ride it out.

“I have not got that kind of money.

“I am not Tony Blair, who can get £250,000 for a 30-minute lecture in America.

“I object to it all and he will have to wait. The whole thing is deplorable.”