MPs' expenses plan 'outrageous'

MPs would have to reveal more details of expenses claims under the system

A proposal to publish MPs' expenses without releasing receipts has been criticised as "outrageous".

Freedom of Information (FOI) campaigner Heather Brooke, who won a fight to get 14 MPs' claims published in full, said it effectively changed the FOI Act.

Commons authorities had said they would publish all MPs' claims and receipts in October but the deadline was missed.

Commons leader Harriet Harman told MPs of plans to break down claims into 26 headings without mentioning receipts.

A spokesman for her office confirmed that if MPs approved the measures next week, the receipts would not be published.

'Really outrageous'

Ms Brooke told the BBC: "This is the problem with the Parliamentary system - if they don't like the law, they can just change it, unlike the rest of us."

By introducing changes to the publication of expenses as a statutory instrument, the government was effectively changing the Freedom of Information act, she said.

"It's a way to change the law without having a public debate," she said.

We want to make sure that the public have confidence that there are clear rules and they know what is going on Harriet HarmanCommons leader

"I think it's just really outrageous."

Last year the Commons lost a Freedom of Information battle - brought by Ms Brooke and two journalists - and was ordered to publish claims and receipts of 14 MPs, which it did in May.

It had been expected that a detailed breakdown of the expenses of all MPs, dating back to 2004, would be released last autumn.

Ms Brooke said the Commons authorities had refused several of her FOI requests on the basis that all information would be published in October.

But the deadline passed without publication and officials complained that the process of scanning and redaction, estimated to cost