Hain guilty of 'serious' failings

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The Commons Standards and Privileges Committee said the scale of the rule breach caused "justified public concern".

But the committee merely ordered the Neath MP to make an apology on the floor of the House after accepting there was no "intention to deceive".

In a statement, Mr Hain said: "The Cabinet Secretary stated that I complied fully with the Ministerial Code, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) exonerated me and now the Parliamentary authorities have also accepted that the mistakes I made were honest mistakes.

"I have been asked to repeat my apology on the floor of the Commons, which I am happy to do."

The CPS has already announced it will be taking no criminal action against Mr Hain over the failures.

The Committee's report dismissed the idea that Mr Hain's workload as Work and Pensions Secretary and Wales Secretary was an excuse for the errors.

"This is a case of an experienced Member, a Cabinet Minister at the time, failing in his duty as a Member of Parliament to register donations within the time required by the House," it said.

"We understand that the pressures on Ministers and on front-benchers can be onerous, but we cannot accept - and we are sure that none of them would suggest - that this excuses them from their obligations under the rules of the House."

The report indicated that usually the failures would have attracted a "heavier penalty", but Mr Hain had already lost his job.