COLNE Valley MP Kali Mountford has been asked to pay back at least £1,000 of expenses.

But the Labour woman is contesting the request – and has declined to reveal the exact amount.

Ms Mountford received an email yesterday afternoon from Sir Thomas Legg, the former civil servant who has audited all MPs’ expenses claims from the last five years.

Kali has been asked to repay money for council tax and rent claims made on her London flat and for two taxi journeys.

Ms Mountford told the Examiner she would write to Sir Thomas to query the repayment request.

She said: “I’m surprised. I don’t think I’ve claimed anything I wasn’t entitled to claim. I’m sure I’ll be able to show him that.

“I’m going to go through it in a detailed way. I'm going to write to him and say ‘I don’t think I owe this money at all and here’s why’.”

Some MPs – including Prime Minster Gordon Brown – have disclosed the contents of their private letters from Sir Thomas.

However, Ms Mountford declined to reveal how much she had been asked to repay yesterday, though she said it was “four figures”.

Most of the money the MP has been asked to pay back is for rent and council tax on her designated second home in London.

She said: “There’s no reason for Sir Thomas to ask for repayment. The receipts are there. I’m unsure what the issue is, other than that I moved flat.”

Ms Mountford is also being asked to repay money for two taxi journeys in 2004 and 2005.

But she said: “I’ve had a look at my bills and I wasn’t paid that money in the first place, so clearly I’m not going to pay back money I wasn’t paid.”

Ms Mountford, who received her email two days later than promised, criticised the way Sir Thomas has handled the issue.

She said: “The email is very confusing. In some cases it’s not clear which years he’s referring to. I’m disappointed he hasn’t done a better job.”

The Examiner asked Sir Thomas Legg’s office if the paper could see the details of the email. A spokeswoman said: “I won’t discuss an individual case. These are private correspondences.”

Yesterday afternoon the Examiner made a request to the House of Commons under the Freedom of Information Act to see the details of the email.

Calder Valley Labour MP Chris McCafferty also received a letter from Sir Thomas yesterday.

The Labour woman, whose constituency includes Brighouse and Elland, said: “I am currently clarifying the small number of issues raised by Legg where further clarification has been requested – despite the fact that the Fees Office already holds much of this information. I will be responding to him within the next three weeks.”

It was unclear last night if Ms McCafferty has been asked to pay back any money.

However, she said: “Should Sir Thomas decide that I should make a repayment, following his appraisal of this additional information, I will, of course, do so.

“However, I do have grave concerns that a precedent may have been set regarding retrospective changes to the pay and conditions of others, especially those in the public sector, such as nurses, teachers and local authority workers.

“I would therefore like to reassure my constituents that I will always oppose any potential attempts to apply retrospective changes to their employment terms and conditions.”

Huddersfield MP Barry Sheerman and Dewsbury MP Shahid Malik received their letters on Tuesday. Neither man was asked to repay any money.

On Wednesday Wakefield MP Mary Creagh revealed that she had paid back £1,001.

The Labour woman, whose constituency includes Denby Dale and Kirkburton, was mistakenly paid twice for her second home costs in January.

Batley and Spen MP Mike Wood has not yet received a letter from Sir Thomas.

More than 600 MPs are receiving letters about their expenses.

Sir Thomas has been criticised by some MPs for limiting spending on second homes to £2,000 a year for cleaning and £1,000 for gardening – rules which did not exist when the claims were made.

Labour’s deputy leader Harriet Harman said the review must be based on “rules and standards that applied at the time”.