A WORCESTERSHIRE MP has launched a furious attack on a Sunday newspaper for suggesting he used parliamentary expenses to build up a valuable property portfolio.

Peter Luff, the member for Mid-Worcestershire, has demanded a full public apology from The Mail on Sunday after he was named alongside a "misleading" article about MPs exploiting an expenses loophole for their own gain.

Headlined Buy To Let - On The Taxpayer, the article said some MPs were legitimately building up property portfolios by using their additional costs allowance (ACA) - which covers the cost of a member's second home in London - to get a mortgage on a second property, then letting that property out privately before buying a new second home for themselves with their ACA.

While Mr Luff was not accused directly, his name was included in an accompanying list of 43 MPs who claim ACA while also renting out a third property.

The Mid-Worcestershire MP owns a small terraced house which he lets privately, in addition to his homes in Worcester and London.

But Mr Luff yesterday stressed he has never used a penny of parliamentary money to pay for the third property - indeed, he purchased it before he even became an MP.

In an angry letter to Mail on Sunday editor Peter Wright yesterday, Mr Luff wrote: "I have at no stage let out any property on which I have claimed ACA.

"The property in Worcester - fully and properly declared in the Register of Members' Interests - is one I purchased some 18 years ago and on which I am still paying off a mortgage.

"I derive little or no net income from it. I look forward to a full, public and comprehensive apology for your misleading article."