Check how much your local representative has been claiming
The expenses claims of every Member of Parliament have been made available online for the first time - but some key details have been blacked out.
Claims made by all 646 MPs under three different allowances since 2004 have been listed alphabetically on the Parliament website with thousands of receipts included too.
The claims submitted by Shepherd's Bush MP Andy Slaughter mainly relate to telephone bills, rent for office accommodation, stationery, office equipment and Tube tickets.
Addresses, contact details and signatures are all blacked out but in some cases, the invoices are so heavily censored, it is difficult to tell precisely what the claims are for.
“The scans have been edited to remove information which could cause serious security issues and breach the privacy of the MP, their staff and other third parties,” the House of Commons website says.
According to the Daily Telegraph, MPs were given several weeks to inspect the documents and black out information they believed should be withheld.
As well as their salaries, all MPs, apart from the 25 who represent inner London constituencies, can also claim up to £24,000 a year in allowances towards the cost of staying away from home while on parliamentary business. Outer London MPs, such as Slaughter, can choose between the second homes allowance and the 'London supplement', which in 2007-8 was £2,812. Slaughter says he has not claimed under the second homes allowance at all. In 2007-8 his total expenses were £134,441.
The Commons authorities made the decision to publish the details after a long running Freedom of Information battle. They were initially due to be published on 1 July but the date was brought forward following the Daily Telegraph's investigation into MPs' expenses.
Check your local MP's expenses:
Andrew Slaughter Lab Ealing, Acton and Shepherd's Bush
18 June 2009