Former Cabinet minister Patricia Hewitt turned to her local paper to announce that she is quitting as an MP.

The 60-year-old MP revealed her decision to stand down at the next election yesterday in an exclusive interview with the Leicester Mercury, denying it was anything to do with her expense claims.

The former health secretary and MP for Leicester West said she wanted to spend more time with her husband, Bill and two children, Alex and Nick.

“I didn’t plan this. I did initially want to serve another term. But I feel the time is right. The truth is that after 13 years as an MP and ten years in government, I have not seen enough of my family. They have paid a high price for that,” she told the paper.

Explaining why she went to the Mercury rather than the nationals, she said: “It’s the people of Leicester West who elect me and pay for me, so I had to make my announcement directly to them, rather than just using the national media.

“I have always felt lucky to have a strong local newspaper like the Leicester Mercury that really campaigns on local issues – so there really was only one choice about how to make my news public.”

Writing on his blog, Mercury acting editor Keith Perch said: “I can’t claim that this exclusive is the result of good old-fashioned investigative reporting. Well, not directly anyway.

“The truth is Ms Hewitt sent me an email over the weekend asking if she could come to see me yesterday as she had an ‘announcement’ to make which she thought should be done through the Leicester Mercury.

“Given the clamour of doomsayers who have been writing the obituary of local newspapers over the past few years, why do people like Ms Hewitt turn to papers like the Leicester Mercury when they have something to say?

“Clearly the fact that 170,000 people read the Mercury every day plays a big part in that – we are still the best way to talk to the people of Leicester.”

The interview was carried out by Lee Marlow, who was recently named as feature writer of the year at the regional press awards. Read the full interview here.

Ms Hewitt has claimed £55,447 in second home expenses since 2004, but she insisted her decision has nothing to do with the simmering anger about MPs expenses.