Parliament’s claim that MPs cannot put in expenses claims for extravagant items was called into question yesterday after it was forced to publish the maximum amounts that MPs can ask for on individual purchases, including £750 for plasma televisions and £300 for air conditioning units.

Until now the list of maximums for 38 items has remained secret because Parliament’s finance department feared that MPs would automatically claim the maximum if they knew what it was. There were fears last night that MPs may start doing just that.

The list of items includes £10,000 for a new kitchen, more than £6,000 for a bathroom and £750 for a television. The taxpayer may also have to fund hi-fi equipment worth up to £750 and £2,000 for a furniture suite.

The full extent of the perks available to MPs emerged after the House of Commons commission released the so-called “John Lewis list”, which the Parliamentary Resources Department uses when considering whether to authorise MPs’ expenses claims.

Under the Parliamentary second-homes allowance MPs can claim about £22,000 a year to fund, furnish and maintain a second home. Interest payments on mortgages are also repaid and MPs can spend up to £400 a month on shopping without having to produce receipts.

The “John Lewis list” is based on prices at the John Lewis department store. Limits include £1,000 for a bed, £250 for a coffee table, £600 for a dining table, £500 for a dressing table and £550 for a fridge-freezer. Carpets and wood flooring can be bought at £35 per sq m. Up to £300 can be claimed per rug, £795 for a sideboard and

£700 for a wardrobe. A note to clerks instructs that dry cleaning for both clothes and household items is permitted “within reasonable limits”. It refers to the Green Book offering guidance which says that “antique, luxury or premium-grade” furnishings are not allowed, nor “extravagant or luxurious” items.

The document says that John Lewis is used as a yardstick because it “came out top of all retail shops” in the February 2007 edition of Which? on cost, customer service and variety of goods.

The document was released yesterday after freedom of information requests by The Times and the Press Association. Andrew Walker, the Commons director-general of resources, had declined to release the document for fear that MPs would take advantage. “My concern would be that if we say what the maximum price we will allow for such an item is, it will become the going rate,” he told the Information Tribunal recently.

Mr Walker said at the hearing that he thought that plasma screen televisions were “probably too expensive” to be claimed. However the list reveals that MPs can spend £750 on a television, which could buy an MP a 42-inch plasma screen produced by either Philips or LG.

Earlier this month the Information Tribunal ordered MPs to disclose details of all items bought on their £22,000 second-home allowances in a judgment which called Parliament’s expenses system “deeply unsatisfactory”.

The 'John Lewis list' in full

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