SOUTH Dorset MP Jim Knight has defended claiming a second home allowance of more than £20,000 as ‘reasonable’.

He published details of the additional cost allowance granted to MPs in a bid to reassure voters and said he has ‘nothing to hide’ from the public.

Mr Knight said he decided to publish details of his claim before the Houses of Commons does in an effort to be ‘transparent’.

The revelations follow weeks of scrutiny of MPs’ expenses, culminating yesterday in the announcement of the resignation of the Speaker of the House of Commons, Michael Martin.

Mr Knight claimed £12,541.69 in mortgage interest payments last year for a one-bedroom flat in Vauxhall that he has owned for more than two years.

He also claimed £3,395 for food and £2,290.85 for maintenance as well as sums to cover telephone bills, cleaning services and utility and Council Tax payments.

His total additional cost allowance claim came to just over £21,363 last year – the maximum allowance being £23,083.

Mr Knight said he is in favour of a total overhaul of the way in which MPs’ salaries and expenses are set, adding that members should have no say at all in what they earn. He said: “It’s important to be transparent and I decided, proactively, to publish my expenses.

“I believe everything I have claimed is justifiable in the terms of doing the job I’ve been elected to do.

“Of course it’s for the public, and not MPs, to judge that but I believe I’ve got nothing to hide.”

Individual items listed on Mr Knight’s claim included bedding, computer equipment, a freeview box and a toaster.

He said: “I do think it’s morally justifiable.

“With the hours that we work in Westminster, you have to have a residence in London.

“If I didn’t have the flat, which is extremely small, I would have to stay in hotels. I understand again that this is for other people to judge but MPs are away from home a lot so it is helpful to have somewhere where a partner and young children can come and visit if you have to be away for a while.”

Mr Knight said he claimed for a freeview box in order to watch news and parliament channels, adding: “If necessary I can make it to a crucial vote from my flat in the eight minutes’ warning we are given.”

He added: “I like to be able to keep up with Sky News, although I haven’t claimed for the sports package in order to watch Premiership football matches, as some MPs have.”

MPs whose constituencies are outside central London are allowed a second home allowance to pay for a home near the Houses of Parliament.

MPs will be allowed to claim £24,006 in second home allowances in 2008/9.

Some outer London MPs have been criticised in recent weeks for claiming for second homes that are within commuting distance of their primary residence.

Published figures for West Dorset Oliver Letwin’s second home allowance show he claimed £20,558 last year and £21,244 the previous year for his second home in London.

In 2005/6, Mr Letwin claimed £19,398 and in 2004/5 he claimed £19,695.

Mr Letwin is West Dorset MP as well as being the chairman of the policy review team and Conservative Research Department.

He is also thought to earn a good private income working part-time for a City investment bank as well as being on the shadow cabinet.

Mr Letwin expenses were highlighted after it was revealed he had a leaking pipe repaired at the taxpayers’ expense.

He eventually agreed to repay the bill of over £2,000 for the repair work, completed underneath the tennis courts at his constituency home.