Eastleigh MP Chris Huhne has been cleared of wrongdoing over his election expenses following an investigation by the Electoral Commission.

The probe was prompted by complaints that Mr Huhne had under-reported the amount spent on his campaign. But the Commission has said it was taking no action after finding only minor discrepancies in his election expense returns.

The Commission found that the cost of his campaign website was £45.15, rather than the £35 reported, but noted that this still left him well within spending limits.

It also found that the decision to allocate spending totalling around £5,400 to the national Liberal Democrat campaign, rather than to Mr Huhne's personal campaign for the Eastleigh seat, was “reasonable and in line with Electoral Commission guidance”.

The Commission asked the party to review its procedures, after it failed to declare in its own returns the cash attributed to the national campaign by Mr Huhne's team. Mr Huhne was told to take more care with campaign literature, after the Commission found some letters did not accurately carry their printer's name, as they are required to.

Welcoming the Commission's findings, Mr Huhne said: “The Electoral Commission is very clear that the campaign was properly within the legal limits, as I always maintained, and I am delighted that we have such a clear conclusion to this investigation.

“This is the second review caused by misinformed and politically-motivated complaints, and it now means that all the complaints concerning my campaign have been rejected.

“My agent, Anne Winstanley, has been painstaking and meticulous in preparing the proper returns in accordance with the law.”