A former Merton conservative has been accused of manipulating expenses regulations to claim £90,000 on a second home where her parents lived.

MP Maria Miller, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and former deputy chairman of the Merton Conservatives has been reported to the MPs' standards watchdog after accusations surfaced on Monday following an investigation by the Telegraph - accusations she has called "misleading and innacurate".

In 1996 Mrs Miller bought the three bedroom property in Woodside, Wimbledon, where her parents have lived since 1998, prior to becoming an MP.

After being elected MP for Basingstoke in 2005, Mrs Miller began claiming expenses on the property as a second home while listing her main residence as a rented property in her constituency in Hampshire.

During a four year period Mrs Miller claimed £90,718 on the property, including mortgage and utility costs.

Under rules laid out by The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards (PCFS), MP’s can only claim expenses on a second property if it is exclusively for their use only with the housing of parents prohibited.

John Mann, a Labour MP, has submitted a complaint to the PCFS, claiming the circumstances were no different to that of Tony McNulty, the Labour Home Office minister, who in 2009 was forced to repay £13,837 of taxpayer’s money after claiming expenses on a second property where his parents were living.

Mrs Miller has responded angrily to the accusations stating that she is a carer for both her parents and the House of Commons fees office was aware of her situation and even advised she list her Wimbledon residence as a second home.

She said: "For a considerable time before I entered politics my parents have lived with me, my husband and our children as part of our family.

"I have always been open about these arrangements.

"Prior to my election as an MP my father’s health deteriorated and shortly after I was elected in 2005 my mother suffered a severe stroke that has left her permanently incapacitated."

Mrs Miller also stated the £90,718 she claimed between 2005 and 2009 was less than the cost of maintaining both homes.

She said: "There was no financial advantage as to which home was designated."

Maria Miller stopped claiming expenses on the property in 2009, just before the expenses scandal first broke, and in 2011 declared it as her main residence.

Following the Legg inquiry into all MPs expenses in 2009 Ms Miller was not asked to repay any money.