The Daily Telegraph has announced it will round off a month of reports on MPs’ expenses by publishing the full list this weekend.
A 68-page supplement, called The Complete Expenses Files, will come with Saturday’s edition of the paper, listing the expenses of all 646 MPs.
“Inside the 68-page magazine supplement you will find files concerning all 646 MPs, with details of their Additional Costs Allowance (ACA) expenses for 2007-8, the most recent year for which figures are available,” the paper said today.
“This is the first time that such detailed information about our elected representatives has been available in one place.
“It is an historic moment. We believe that our expenses files will help change the face of British politics for the better.”
A small team of journalists working in a “bunker” based away from the main Telegraph newsroom have been analysing the leaked expenses details since 8 May.
The paper has refused to say whether – or how much – it paid for the leak, which added 2.3 per cent to its average daily circulation last month, according to ABC.
Saturday’s supplement comes after the House of Commons finally published details of the claims this morning – but with much of the detail that led to a public outcry blacked out.
Maurice Frankel, director of the Campaign for Freedom of Information, said he was disappointed with the level of redaction that had been carried out by the Commons authorities.
He said the edited receipts would have made it impossible to detect the most serious abuses revealed by the Telegraph in recent weeks.
“Last year an amendment to the Freedom of Information Act removed information relating to MPs’ residential addresses from the Act’s scope,” he said.
“This was explained as a measure to protect MPs’ privacy and safety. But it also prevented the ‘flipping’ of second homes being detected.
“The House of Commons could have overcome this problem, without jeopardising MPs’ safety, by providing a partial postcode or by indicating when an address had changed, but this was not done.”
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