PRESSURE is growing today on politicians in the South to come clean over their Parliamentary expenses as two Hampshire MPs broke cover and decided to unilaterally publish copies of all their receipts online.

Full details of how MPs have spent millions of pounds of public money on their second homes is due to be published by the Commons authorities within weeks but yesterday Southampton Test MP Alan Whitehead and Eastleigh MP Chris Huhne said they had decided to release their claims early to “get the truth out there”.

New Forest West MP Desmond Swayne, who has been posting details of his expenditure – but not the receipts – on his website for the past year, said he strongly supported full disclosure because “sunlight is the best disinfectant”.

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The detailed claims of Winchester MP Mark Oaten were published last year following a request under the Freedom of Information Act.

However, the rest of the region’s MPs yesterday showed little sign of joining their colleagues and sharing their expense claims now, despite a public outcry following a series of revelations in The Daily Telegraph, which got hold of a disc containing a copy of all the receipts.

Labour MP Dr Whitehead, who last night published full details of his expense claims on his website, revealed for the first time a series of claims made over the past four years under the additional cost allowance (ACA), which is designed to help MPs maintain a second home to carry out their Parliamentary duties.

They included £1,942 to replace a broken boiler in his London flat, £719 on furniture, £85 on blinds and £539 on flooring materials. He also spent, in 2007/8, £135.50 on a TV licence, £1,060 on council tax, £367 on water rates and £73 a month on home insurance.

Dr Whitehead, who already publishes an “outline” of his expenditure on his website every year, said: “I have claimed within the rules and spirit of the rules on all occasions and I am now making sure these receipts are out in the open and available for scrutiny at the earliest possible stage.

“It’s absolutely right that everything is in the public domain as far as receipts and expenses are concerned and in my view they should be in the future. Transparency engenders trust.”

Mr Huhne’s claims, as reported by the Daily Echo yesterday following disclosures in a national newspaper, included £119 for a Corby trouser press, which he has since repaid, £5,066 for work on his garden and £77.31 to cover odd jobs like “replacing rope on swinging chair”.

His claim also included an £85 framed photo of himself with an inscription for the local authority.

The Liberal Democrat MP for Eastleigh said he had published copies of his receipts online to “banish any thought that I was trying to milk the system”.

He said: “Getting the truth out there is very important. The principle of disclosure is absolutely essential, and key to the whole process. It’s the single most important thing in getting some grip on the system.”

Mr Huhne, who is the Lib Dems’ home affairs spokesman, added: “I am proud that I have the lowest second home claim of any Hampshire MP, claiming 17 per cent of the maximum.

I have nothing to hide, which is why I have put all the claims on my website.”