Ed Balls admits running red light

Labour's Ed Balls has admitted to being caught running a red light as he drove home through London after work.

The shadow chancellor was caught by a traffic camera as he headed along the Embankment after a late night sitting in Parliament.

His spokesman said the MP had "passed through the light just after it turned red" when traffic diversions were in place.

It is not the first time Mr Balls has been caught breaching the rules of the road.

Earlier this year the MP said he was "bang to rights" when he was caught driving six miles above the 50 mph limit on a motorway near his constituency home in West Yorkshire.

Mr Balls joked at the time that he had been going ''too far, too fast'' - a favourite attack line against the coalition's austerity measures - and said he had been "caught out by the never-ending roadworks on the M62".

He chose to pay a fine and attended a speed awareness course rather than accept penalty points.

After his traffic light misdemeanour emerged in The Sun, a spokesman for Mr Balls said: "This happened in December last year as Ed was driving home along the Embankment after a late sitting in the House of Commons.

"He passed through the light just after it turned red and he was photographed on a traffic camera. At the time the Blackfriars underpass ahead of the traffic light was closed and all traffic passing through the light was being diverted up a slip-road."