MPs have revealed for the first time their annual expenses, with the cost to taxpayers totalling £78 million.

That figure does not take into account the annual salaries for each of the 659 MPs, some £57,485 per year, but does include money paid to cover mortgage interest payments on second homes.

The average claim made by each MP on accommodation, office costs, travel and staff was £118,437.

Although Commons leader Peter Hain has called for the information to be treated "responsibly", the media are going through the data with a fine tooth comb.

Interviewed in the Times, Sir Archy Kirkwood, the Liberal Democrat MP who is spokesman for the House of Commons Commission, said many MPs were "nervous" about the impact of the expenses report.

"I celebrate the opportunity for people to do this job differently. And if people don’t like it then their electorate can throw them out," he said.

Former independent MP Martin Bell has welcomed the expenses move. "I think it is long overdue. At the time I was an MP I was invited to sign a cheque to myself every month right up to the limit," he told the Today programme on Thursday.

MPs under fire

The decision to allow this practice has already provoked press criticism, with some MPs singled out for making use of the allowance even though their constituency homes are within commuting distance of Westminster.

Parliamentarians with constituencies outside central London can claim up to £20,902 per year on top of their salary for mortgage interest, rent, groceries, electrical appliances and bills for properties in the Capital.

While they cannot use the cash to pay for the capital on a mortgage, they are entitled to keep the profit made on any sale of a house.

MPs can also spend up to £19,325 a year for office accommodation and as much as £77,534 on staff.

Each can therefore cost the taxpayer around £175,000 but all expenses have been approved as legitimate by the Commons authorities and any disputes would be reviewed by the independent commissioner for standards in public life.

It is the first time the details have been made public, with the move coming ahead of the implementation of new freedom of information laws next year.

The £78.05 million bill for 2003-04 compared with £73.4 million the year before but was considerably lower at £57.49 million in 2001-02.

Ministers who can make use of official homes in London are paid for the costs of running their constituency accomodation.

However those that do not are expected to make the Capital their main home and can therefore claim the additional costs allowance for their second house and the London supplement.

With attention trained on the money spent by MPs on housing, the figures revealed that Tony Blair used £15,490 for stays in his Sedgefield constituency in the past year.

The notoriously parsimonious chancellor uses just £14,304 of a £20,303 maximum for his Dunfermline base, while deputy prime minister John Prescott, who has been criticised for having four homes, takes all but £200 of his allowance.

MPs such as Barry Gardiner, Barbara Follett, Jenny Tonge, Tony Banks, Roger Casale and Andrew Rossindell use their second home allowance despite living within commuteable distance of Westminster.

In contrast Martin Salter, Brian Mawhinney, Michael Trend, Laura Moffat, Sarah Teather, Vincent Cable and Peter Mandelson did not make a single claim on the public purse for their housing.