Newly elected Republican congressman George Santos has apologised after admitting he lied about his education and work experience.

Mr Santos, who was elected in New York, told the New York Post: "My sins here are embellishing my resume. I'm sorry."

The allegation was first made in a New York Times report last week.

At the time, a lawyer for Mr Santos hit back at the claims that he misrepresented where he went to college and his alleged employment history, describing them as "defamatory" and a "shotgun blast of attacks".

He said during his campaign that he had worked at high-profile Wall Street firms Goldman Sachs and Citigroup.

But Mr Santos told the New York Post he had "never worked directly" for either firm, admitting it was a "poor choice of words".

The 34-year-old said he actually worked at a company called Link Bridge, as a vice-president, where he did business with both of the financial giants.

"I didn't graduate from any institution of higher learning. I'm embarrassed and sorry for having embellished my resume," he said. "I own up to that… We do stupid things in life."

Mr Santos, who was elected to Congress on 8 November to represent part of Long Island and Queens, took a seat from the Democrats as the Republicans triumphed overall with a slim majority in the House of Representatives, Congress's lower chamber.