Now MPs can claim £25 a night expenses without any receipt

MPs came under fire today for continuing to pay themselves thousands of pounds in expenses without showing receipts.

The TaxPayers' Alliance said a new £25-a-night "subsistence" allowance was open to abuse and far more generous than what private firms offer employees.

MPs can claim the cash, covering food and pocket money, for each night spent away from home "on parliamentary business". For most that means every night spent in London while the Commons is sitting, adding up to at least £4,000 a year paid with no questions asked. Mark Wallace of the TaxPayers' Alliance said: "It is unacceptable for taxpayers' money to be handed out without receipts."

The lax rules fly in the face of assurances given by ministers after the expenses scandal erupted in April. Harriet Harman told the Commons when introducing new interim rules: "There would need to be receipts for all claims. That is something sensible we could decide now." Alan Duncan, her Tory shadow, said payments without proof was "an unacceptable system in the modern age".

Commons officials dismissed a report in today's Daily Telegraph that the allowance had been introduced by stealth and was worth up to £9,125 a year to MPs. A spokeswoman said the allowance was voted through last July and introduced in April. For an MP to pocket £9,000 would mean claiming every day including Christmas Day, which she said was impossible.

In April, MPs voted for the requirement of receipts for everything claimed. But the green book that sets out expenses rules continues to state: "A flat-rate sum of £25 may be claimed for any night which a Member spends away from his or her main home on parliamentary business."