MPs will be forced to disclose details of every item spent on their £22,000 second-home allowance after a damning judgment by the Information Tribunal, which called Parliament’s expenses system “deeply unsatisfactory”.

Individual furniture invoices, mortgage arrangements, utility bills and cleaning arrangements should be released to the public under the ruling, which will infuriate MPs and put greater pressure on the Commons to reform the second-home allowance.

This brings the system into line with the Scottish Parliament, where full disclosure has already brought about the resignation of the Scottish Conservative leader, David McLetchie, because of his taxi bill.

Although yesterday’s ruling technically applies to only 11 MPs, a previous example on travel expenses set a precedent for all MPs.

Only information that could jeop-ardise an MP’s security, such as bank details, will be deleted, though address-es will be made public unless an MP is subject to a specific security risk.

Parliament has strongly resisted attempts to reveal more details about MPs’ expenses, and members will put pressure on the Speaker to use his powers of veto to oppose the move.

The tribunal ruled that disclosure, which should happen within the next month, was necessary because the system MPs used to claim the £22,100 additional costs allowance was so opaque. The ruling said: “The laxity of and lack of clarity in the rules is redolent of a culture very different from that which exists in the commercial sphere or in most other public sector organisations today.”

It said the lack of “a clear, coherent and comprehensive statement” of MPs’ entitlements, coupled with “the very limited nature of the checks, constitute a recipe for confusion, inconsistency and the risk of misuse. The system is deeply unsatisfactory and the shortfall both in transparency and in accountability is acute.”

Heather Brooke, the information campaigner, said last night: “All honest and hard-working MPs will welcome this opportunity to prove their openness to the electorate.

“What’s disappointing is that it took three years of concerted effort to counter the relentless opposition from the House of Commons Commission and Speaker Michael Martin, who used taxpayer money throughout to block the very information needed for an informed electorate.”

The Committee on Standards in Public Life, which has drawn criticism for failing to act, is expected to confirm today that it will contribute to the Speaker’s internal review of MPs’ allowances rather than conduct its own.

Its members had discussed plans for two reports on Commons expenses, one a short look at whether current rules matched the principles for holders of public office and a second, more detailed look at the effectiveness of attempts at reform.

But Sir Christopher Kelly, who became the committee’s chairman last month, has agreed instead that both exercises will become part of a review conducted by MPs themselves and to which it will become one of several outside bodies asked to contribute.

One source close to his committee said Sir Christopher’s reluctance to get involved was an attempt to distance himself from his predecessor, Sir Alistair Graham, whose term was not renewed after he angered ministers with his frequent and trenchant criticism on individual standards cases.

The source said: “The previous chairman spent most of his time grand-standing with the media, which created considerable havoc in the cause of a sense of direction of the committee. What you got was people ringing him saying, on individual cases, ‘What is the committee going to do about this?’. The committee does not try cases. It sets principles. There is a considerable amount of confusion about that. Nor is it just parliamentary. It is [concerned with] principles in public life.”

The Members Estimates Committee of the Commons, which is chaired by Michael Martin, the Speaker, and is carrying out the internal review, announced yesterday that its reform plans would be put to MPs for a vote in July, four months earlier than planned.

This comes after a backlash against his original timetable, under which it would not have reported until the autumn, and against the MPs appointed to lead the process, who were criticised as Establishment figures.

As an interim measure they also announced that as a “first step” a rule allowing MPs to claim up to £250 a month from Commons allowances without having to produce receipts will be scrapped.

A lower threshold will be introduced from the start of the financial year in April. No new figure was given but both the Senior Salaries Review Body, and Sir Philip Mawer, the former Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, have called for a ceiling of £50 a month.

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