DETAILS of every meal, taxi fare and rent payment claimed by MPs will be published online from September as part of an overhaul of the parliamentary exp- enses system.

Every claim, including those that are refused, will be listed by the newly created expenses watchdog, the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA).

Oxford’s MPs have welcomed the rule changes and increased transparency, and hope the moves will restore public faith after the expenses scandals of the past 18 months.

The IPSA says online reporting will begin next month and the expense accounts of every MP will be published on a regular basis, expected to be monthly, in future.

MPs’ staff salaries will also be published annually without names and in bands of £5,000 – with each MP allowed to claim up to £109,548 a year.

Anyone on the payroll who is a family member ,or has business interests connected to the MP, will be named and have their pay published in full.

Oxford East MP Andrew Smith said he had advocated an independent expenses system and the publication of all claims.

He said: “The public has a right to see the information. It allows the public to scrutinise expenses and to that extent it helps in rebuilding trust.”

Mr Smith employs his wife, Val, at his constituency office for two days each week and said he agreed with the publication of ‘connected parties’ details.

The Labour MP also said rule changes, splitting office rents and rates from day-to-day administrative costs, had forced him to trim the size of his constituency office from two rooms to one.

Under the old system, MPs were allowed £22,930 per year to cover all costs, excluding staff, but now that had been split and reduced, to allow up to £10,633 for rent and rates and a further £10,394 for IT, photocopying and other administrative charges.

Nicola Blackwood, who was elected Conservative MP for Oxford West and Abingdon at the May General Election, said: “I have absolutely no objections and I would have done it myself anyway.

“It is necessary this is in the public domain so people have confidence abuses are not repeated.”