MP EVAN Harris has claimed efforts to censor parts of receipts of parliamentarian’s expenses published online were excessive.

Dr Harris is standing by every claim he has made to run his office and says he believes there should be even more transparency.

Receipts and claims for expenses were published online last week following the furore over MPs’ expenses.

And Dr Harris, who was the first county MP to disclose full details of his spending, criticised the extent to which MPs’ expenses had been edited prior to going on the Internet.

He said: “They have no choice but to cover up bank account details, but I think the extent of the redaction was too great.”

The Oxford West and Abingdon MP, first elected in 1997, spoke out after the House of Commons published every MP’s expense claims between 2004 and 2008.

As the Oxford Mail reported last month, the Oxford West and Abingdon MP claimed £76,618 in second home expenses on a one-bedroom flat in London between April 2004 and March 2008. He claimed £30,606 on paying off the interest on his £125,000 interest-only mortgage, £16,056 on food and £3,703 on utility bills.

Last year he sold the property to his parents for £350,000 and bought another flat near Westminster for an unclosed sum.

However, he said he would not pocket any capital gain financed by the taxpayer.

All MPs’ claims under the Additional Cost Allowance – paid to reimburse them for costs incurred when staying overnight away from their main home – and the Incidental Expenses Provision – for costs associated with running an office – are available for constituents to view at the website parliament.uk, although some details have been removed on privacy and security grounds.

Dr Harris said: “I have always argued for full transparency and I don’t mind anyone asking me about any of my receipts. I have asked my office to look for anything controversial.

“They haven’t found anything and I believe my expenses are standard.”

Dr Harris, who has a staff of four, rents offices in Frideswide Square, Oxford, at a cost of approximately £11,000 a year.

Under the Incidental Expenses Provision, he also claims for photocopying, website maintenance, phone bills and line rental, wireless broadband, pay-and-display parking tickets, train and bus travel, fuel, local newspapers and room hire for his surgeries in Oxford, Abingdon, Kidlington and Kennington.

Claims for stationery include disposable fountain pens, paperclips, batteries and ink cartridges. In 2004, he also claimed £193 to repair a fax machine and £1,349 on a new computer.

Dr Harris said he would be publishing a summary of his claims under the Incidental Expenses Provision on his website in the coming weeks, as he has done for his second home expenses, along with an explanation of any receipts which had been heavily redacted.

In total, he claimed £19,324 to run his office in 2004/05, which he said was comparable to the amount he claimed in each subsequent year.

tshepherd@oxfordmail.co.uk