Cameron's solution to fix 'broken politics' MPs' EXPENSES: Tory leader backs our investigation.

Byline: Les Reid

CONSERVATIVE leader David Cameron has told the Coventry Telegaph he is urging MPs to act within the "letter and spirit" of Freedom of Information laws in publishing their expenses claims.

Mr Cameron was speaking exclusively to us in response to our investigation highlighting Commons' plans to heavily censor the expenses files of all 646 MPs.

We reported the view of barrister Hugh Tomlinson QC, who won a High Court battle with the Commons to force publication, that such editing would "breach court orders".

We put his concerns to Mr Cameron, as well as the fears of four Coventry and Warwickshire MPs that the Commons' authorities' recommendations to delete documents from their files were going much beyond data protected personal information such as bank details, names and addresses.

Mr Cameron told us: "The constant stream of expenses stories has eroded the already dangerously low levels of trust in politicians.

The British people deserve to know exactly what has happened, and what is going to be done about it. The job of drawing up a new regime for parliamentary expenses has fallen on Sir Christopher Kelly (chairman of an independent standards committee). But it's also the parliamentary authorities' responsibility to put all the relevant information about these expenses into the public domain as soon as possible.

"And it's each political party's responsibility - which the Conservatives are working hard to fulfil - to make sure our MPs have not only complied with the letter of the law but the spirit of it. These actions alone won't fix our broken politics but they're a vital start." It is unclear whether MPs will be forced to approve the current recommendations of Commons offi- cials when they publish their expenses on the internet, now expected to happen later this month.

One MP, Jeremy Wright, Conservative MP for Rugby and Kenilworth, has asked Commons' offi- cials if he can publish some material they had earmarked for deletion, in the interests of being more open and transparent..

But Sheree Dodd, spokeswoman for the Commons' Members' Estimate Committee of MPs, told us today that unless there is an eleventh-hour change of plan, MPs will have to follow the Commons' recommendations, in line with the committee's earlier decision on the terms of publication.

As we have shown, the committee's "Publication Scheme" includes deleting correspondence and letters between MPs and Commons' officials which in some cases provide the only evidence of wrong and questionable claims for taxpayers' money.

Ms Dodd said the six-member cross-party committee was due to meet again on Monday, when it will further discuss publication.

As reported in yesterday's Coventry Telegraph, shadow leader of the House, Alan Duncan, a member of the committee, said he "understood" the Commons was implementing the court orders, and should press ahead with publication "as rapidly as possible".

We also exclusively reported the view of the Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and Commons' Leader Harriet Harman, also a member of the committee chaired by out-going Commons' speaker Michael Martin, that the law must be complied with. The committee is overseen by the House of Commons Commission, which has the same membership.

Mr Brown said he was doing all he could to ensure the system for publishing MPs' expenses was "as transparent and accountable as possible".

More details on city MP's expenses claims

THE Daily Telegraph has reported on the expenses claims of Bob Ainsworth MP, the only one of our nine MPs not to agree to disclose his unedited files to us.

The newspaper's disclosures on the Coventry North east MP - part of its ongoing revelations following an exclusive leak of all 646 MPs' files - provide more detail on what we have reported on three occasions, based on Mr Ainsworth's own account to us of what's in his expenses files.

As we reported, he claimed the maximum "second-home" allowance of pounds 23,083 in 2007/08 when he became armed forces minister. He had said he switched his designated "second home" from his Coventry family home to a new rented flat in London, in accordance with Commons' rules as by then he was spending fewer nights in London.

We reported his view that his claims for pounds 20,200 since 1997 for internal and external "redecoration and repairs" to his main home did not break the rules that MPs must not claim for property enhancements.

The Daily Telegaph reported yesterday he'd submitted two invoices for pounds 8,025 in July 2005 for work including removing a wall, fitting oak beams and rebuilding a fireplace.

As we reported, he had a pounds 2,225 claim for sofa and pounds 1,000 for a television reduced by the Commons' fees office, which paid pounds 2,000 and pounds 750 respectively.

Mr Ainsworth has said he sought advice on occasions from Commons' officials and had been encouraged to claim more rather than less.

Mr Ainsworth was yesterday unavailable for comment..

AS voters went to the polls today in the local and European elections a new survey revealed that the MPs' expenses scandal has heightened calls for an early General Election.

Research among 1,400 adults by social internet site MySpace showed that seven out of 10 did not want to wait another year before being given the chance to vote.

Voters in Warwickshire are voting in county council elections today.

The count will not take place until tomorrow (fri).

There are no locals elections in Coventry.

But voters in both Coventry and Warwickshire have the chance to vote in the European elections. The count will not take place until Sunday night.

* See www.

coventrytelegraph.net for latest local election news tomorrow Give us an election plea