MP expenses receipts ‘must be revealed’

ALL receipts submitted by MPs to justify their expenses claims must be published, senior appeal judges ruled yesterday.

They ordered the expenses watchdog, the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, to release invoices and other paperwork from MPs.

The Court of Appeal decision could also force other public bodies to do the same for the expenses of top staff, such as NHS managers, quango chiefs and council bosses.

Andy Silvester, campaign director of the TaxPayers’ Alliance said: ‘This is an important victory for transparency. It’s only right that those in the public sector show their receipts to their paymasters – taxpayers.’

Last night there was anger at the legal costs run up by Ipsa as it tried to stop the paperwork becoming public. The Daily Mail understands the body, set up after the MPs’ expenses scandal of 2009, spent £30,000 of public money on the latest court case.

Mr Silvester added: ‘Taxpayers will be furious Ipsa has spent so much fighting this.’

An Ipsa spokesman defended its action, saying it wanted to find out if publishing ‘images of receipts’ added anything to the information it already makes public.

The case stemmed from a Freedom of Information Act request to Ipsa from a newspaper in 2010 for copies of original receipts. It had only been given a typed-up transcript of the information.

Copies of receipts and invoices had been critical in exposing the 2009 scandal.

Ipsa lost the case before the Information Commissioner in 2012 and twice before lower tribunals before going to the higher court. Costs could still rise as officials have not ruled out appealing to the Supreme Court.