AN MP has admitted 'misusing' stationery and has agreed to pay back more than £3,000.

Robert Courts was found to be breaching House of Commons rules after he sent out a general update on a range of issues using official stationery and postage-paid envelopes.

Mr Courts said he thought the correspondence had been an 'innocuous' letter and argued the rules were 'vaguely drafted' before accepting he 'made a mistake.'

A 27 page resolution document detailing letters between Mr Courts and Kathryn Stone, the parliamentary commissioner for standards, has been released following an inquiry.

A constituent complained after receiving a letter and a survey inviting residents to 'share their views on Eynsham'.

The covering letter for this survey included updates from Mr Courts on education, health, transport and environmental issues.

Under the MPs' code of conduct, politicians are not allowed to include newsletters in pre-paid envelopes.

Mr Courts originally responded to say he felt the complaint was 'politically motivated' and the issues were included to 'stimulate' responses to the survey.

He said the mailing had been 'hugely popular' leading to comments such as 'Robert, you are the best MP we have ever had.'

After further correspondence with the commissioner he accepted he was in the wrong and blamed being a new MP who was conducting the exercise for the first time before sending a cheque for £3,010.99.

The commissioner said the breach had been on the 'less serious end of the spectrum'.