Revealed - what MPs can expense

Members of parliament keen to spruce up their second homes can spend thousands of pounds at taxpayers' expense, House of Commons documents showed on Friday.

The "John Lewis list", based on prices from the department store, shows the maximum amount that MPs can claim on expenses to furnish their second homes, including up to 10,000 pounds for a new kitchen.

Up to 6,000 pounds can be splashed out on a new bathroom, while a new bed can be expensed for up to 1,000 pounds. The total which MPs are allowed to claim amounts to 22,000 pounds.

TaxPayers' Alliance Chief Executive Matthew Elliot said it appeared that MPs were not being frugal and that the prices were out of reach for many voters.

"John Lewis is a fine store but it is hardly the cheapest place to purchase household goods," he said in a statement.

The list was revealed amid criticism of MPs expenses after Conservative MP Derek Conway was suspended from parliament earlier this year for 10 days and ordered to pay back money after overpaying his son to be his researcher.

Parliamentary officials had refused to make the list public, which they use to approve or reject expenses, saying MPs could take advantage of the system by putting in claims at the upper limit.

The list, which does not reveal individual claimants, was released to the Press Association under Freedom of Information laws. It was used as a benchmark because John Lewis was top of retail shops in last year's Which? retail guide.

Labour MP Stuart Bell said the public's trust in politicians had been dented.

"Of course we accept the outrage, we accept the loss of public trust and public confidence," he told the BBC on Friday.

Also on Friday, media reports said detailed expense claims of all MPs could be forced to be made public for the first time.

All taxpayer-funded claims dating back almost half a decade may be published by the end of the year, the BBC reported. While total figures on MPs claims are already published, it would be the first a detailed breakdown to be made public.

Parliamentary authorities have resisted giving detailed breakdowns until now, arguing it would breach MPs' privacy.

Earlier this week, a parliamentary committee said the threshold for MPs expenses without receipts would be reduced to 25 pounds from 250 pounds from April 1.