ATTEMPTS to prevent details of parliamentary expenses being published have been criticised by county MPs.

They say they want to see transparency and openness after proposals to give Parliament key exemptions from the Freedom of Information Act were were unveiled by Commons leader Harriet Harman.

The move would be backdated to annul the ruling by the High Court and Information Tribunal that receipt-by-receipt breakdowns for how public money is spent must be published.

Instead, the Commons is set to issue slightly more information than before about how MPs use their allowances.

The plans to avoid full disclosure were slipped out amid the furore over expanding Heathrow Airport.

Cheltenham MP Martin Horwood said: "I am very sceptical about the Government's plan.

"I will need to study the fine print but it looks like they are trying to wriggle out of MPs giving full details of their expenses.

"The only possible exception should be an MP's private home address. After that, there should be full disclosure and maximum openness. I hope this cover-up doesn't succeed."

Laurence Robertson, MP for Tewkesbury, said: "Public servants expenses should be open to public analysis. I don't have a problem with publicising my expenses. There's nothing to hide.

"I don't think it's terribly sensible to try to cover it up.

"I am a little bit concerned about the message this will send to people."

Cotswolds MP Geoffrey Clifton-Brown said: "It should be as open as possible. That should be our guiding principle. But there's got to be a balance between being open and administrative expenses."

The Government move to try to prevent full disclosure at such a late stage is also reported to have infuriated the Commons' authorities.

They believe they have been left "high and dry" after spending seven months and nearly £1 million scanning and processing around a million receipts – which are now unlikely to see the light of day.

FOI campaigners have expressed outrage at the "disgraceful" move. MPs will vote on whether to endorse the plans on Thursday and they would come into force almost immediately.

Ms Harman insisted that in future their expenses would be listed under twice as many headings, but disclosure had to be "affordable and proportionate".

Under the new proposals, personal additional accommodation expenditure – the new term covering second home allowance – will list 'headline' figures for mortgage interest, rent, hotel costs, council tax, fixtures, fittings and furnishings, subsistence and other household costs including service charges, utilities, telecommunications, maintenance and repairs.

The measures would mean Parliament could not be forced to reveal any more details under the FOI Act. The Commons' authorities ran up a bill of £150,000 over three years fighting FOI requests demanding disclosure of a receipt-by-receipt breakdown of MPs' spending on second homes.