DENIS MacShane has resigned as an MP after a damning report by the Commons expenses watchdog found he wrongly claimed thousands of pounds.

The former Europe minister said he wanted to take "responsibility for my mistakes" after the Standards and Privileges Committee recommended he be suspended without pay and pension for a year – the longest suspension of an MP in living memory.

The move came after the Labour Party declared the Rotherham MP's career to be "effectively over", and prompted demands for Scotland Yard to reopen a criminal investigation.

The Standards and Privileges Committee detailed how Mr MacShane knowingly submitted 19 false invoices over a four-year period that were "plainly intended to deceive" the Parliament's expenses authority. It said it was the "gravest case" it had dealt with.

The committee's sanctions follow an investigation by the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner, John Lyon, who accused Mr MacShane of "extremely serious" rule-breaking.

Mr MacShane said: "I appreciate the committee's ruling that I made no personal gain and I regret my foolishness in the manner I chose to be reimbursed for work, including working as the Prime Minister's personal envoy in Europe." A senior Labour source said: "Denis has done the right thing."

It also emerged that the Commissioner's findings had not been shared with the Metropolitan Police, whose lengthy inquiry into Mr MacShane's conduct was dropped in July with no further action.

Conservative MP Philip Davies urged police to revisit the allegations against Mr MacShane. In a letter to the Met, he wrote: "Now that the report has been published, and parliamentary privilege no longer applies, I would ask you to consider reopening the investigation into Mr MacShane."

Committee officials suggested the evidence from Mr MacShane would not be legally admissible, even though it has not now been made public.

The committee said it was impossible to say how much Mr MacShane claimed "outside the rules" but estimated it "may have been in the order of £7500".

"He has expressed his regret, and repaid the money wrongly claimed," the report said. "But this does not excuse his behaviour in knowingly submitting 19 false invoices over a period of four financial years, which were plainly intended to deceive the parliamentary expenses authorities."

Mr MacShane also obtained 14 computers from Commons authorities and through expense claims. Some were given to interns, the report said.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said the force would now consider the contents of the Commons report. He said: "We are aware of the report and will be assessing its content in due course."

Born in Glasgow in 1948, Mr MacShane was educated at Merton College, Oxford and spent eight years as a BBC reporter and presenter.

In 1992 he founded the European Policy Institute and he was its director until 1994, when he was elected as MP for Rotherham in a by-election.