Jacqui repays postage

The move follows complaints from some constituents that they had received unsolicited mail from her.

Conservative Parliamentary spokesman for Redditch Karen Lumley asked the Serjeant at Arms to investigate after her 18-year-old son - and others constituents - received an unsolicited letter from Ms Smith.

It claimed the Alexandra Hospital cuts were not the fault of the Government but represented poor administration by health chiefs.

Commons rules state letters in post-paid envelopes can only be sent by MPs to constituents who have first made contact and cannot be used for cold-call mailing on issues of local concern.

Ms Smith said: "I have already paid for 317 letters which were sent due to a mistake in our database.

''I am disappointed Redditch Conservatives did not wish to receive information about our hospital campaign but I have received many messages of support from over 5,000 who I have contacted."

Mrs Lumley called on Ms Smith to publicly apologise. She said: "Everyone is concerned about the Alex. This was not a matter of being 'gagged' but of obeying the rules of Parliament.

''Her letter claimed cuts at the Alex were no fault of her Government and all the fault of the trust for being inefficient, which is a very partisan view, designed to help her and her party."

Conservative MP for Bromsgrove Julie Kirkbride said: "I think our complaint has been entirely vindicated now Ms Smith has been forced to reimburse the taxpayer for her misuse of free Commons' envelopes.

''Ms Smith has wrongly sought to portray this issue as being about serving her constituents - it's not, it's about obeying the rules.

''In this last year, covering the election, she was among the top 10 MPs for the cost of her postage, thereby arousing our suspicions.

''When we then discovered a great many people receiving unsolicited mail from her about the hospital cuts we informed the Commons' authorities, who have taken the right action."