CONSERVATIVE party chairman Eric Pickles has been accused of using tax-payers’ money to help out his local party branch.

The Telegraph newspaper said the MP made a £1,000 expenses payment in 2007 to the Brentwood and Ongar Conservative Association for “administration, storage and equipment”.

Guidelines given to MPs when claiming expenses state that money should not be used “for the benefit of a political organisation.”

Mr Pickles told The Epping Forest Guardian he had needed to use the Association to store back copies of correspondence with his constituents.

He added that his local branch had offered him free help over the years potentially saving the taxpayer thousands of pounds.

The Telegraph has also printed information showing that between 2005 and the middle of 2008 Mr Pickles consistently claimed £200 every month in petty cash without supplying a single receipt.

Mr Pickles said he used the cash to buy office supplies and thought it was useful if “old-fashioned” to operate a cash-box system.

He said he kept receipts and they were available for inspection although he admitted no-one from the fees office had ever checked them.

He added: “I’m certain I acted in a proper way, and that’s why my office expenses have been £10,000 under budget.”