New restrictions on MPs' expenses

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From April, they will no longer be able to claim for items worth up to £250 without a receipt, the committee drawing up reform proposals revealed.

It is almost certain to be cut to £50 - in line with a recommendation from the Senior Salaries Review Body - but details are yet to be finalised.

The Members Estimate Committee (MEC) will decide next week whether it will apply to individual items or be a monthly limit on claims submitted without proof.

And it will now press ahead with producing a full package of reforms by July - months earlier than the original autumn target.

Liberal Democrat Nick Harvey - one of three MEP members leading the review - said the change was made to dovetail with a separate Government-commissioned pay probe.

But it was decided just hours after under-fire Commons Speaker Michael Martin, who chairs the MEC, was warned delays threatened to damage Parliament's reputation.

The in-house probe was ordered in the wake of the scandal surrounding disgraced MP Derek Conway.

He was suspended from the Commons for 10 days and thrown out of the Tory party for employing his full-time student son as a researcher at taxpayers' expense.

His ban ended on Monday, but the fallout has continued with the Speaker among those facing controversy over his own allowance claims, leading to calls both for his resignation and for the review to be handed over to an independent outside body.