What is the UK expenses scandal?

The issue of expense claims abuses by Britain's MPs is in the news because earlier this month the Daily Telegraph obtained a full copy of the expenses record and began publishing its contents.

It quickly became apparent that some MPs had a much broader interpretation of what they were entitled to claim than the British public did.

While Britain's MPs are entitled to claim for expenditure - including the cost of accommodation - deemed necessary to ensure they can "properly perform" their "parliamentary duties", claims for extravagances such as a home cinema system, a £250 alarm clock and repairs to a ride-on lawnmower, have caused outrage.

The abuses came to light because of a freedom of information request by Heather Brooke, a crusading American journalist shocked by the secrecy surrounding parliament's financial affairs.

"I think there's a culture of deference here, where the public believe that people who are in power - the great and the good - still know what's best for everyone," Brooke said in an interview.

"I come from an American tradition, that you should always be sceptical of government and have a right to know what's been done with your money."

It took her five years of court battles to force the release of the information. It was set to be made public in July, but the information was leaked last week to the Daily Telegraph, which has published dozens of stories based on the data.

The burgeoning scandal has already cost House Speaker Michael Martin his job, and several members have said they will not seek re-election, but this does not seem to have satisfied the public's desire for change.

Talk radio host Jon Gaunt, whose SunTalk show has been overwhelmed by callers furious about the abuses, says he has never heard people so angry about anything during his 16 years on radio.

"It's a story that won't go away. Everybody feels that these are the people who tell them to pay their taxes and their licence fees, meanwhile they've got their hands in the till," he said.

More than 10,000 people have signed a petition supporting Conservative leader David Cameron's call for a snap election in the wake of the spending revelations, but Prime Minister Gordon Brown yesterday ruled that out, saying such a move would cause "chaos".

Britain's next general election must be called by mid-2010.

Some of the expense claims

* Labour MP Hazel Blears - "flipped" her designated second home three times in one year.

* Scottish Labour Party MP Michael Connarty claimed £250 for an alarm clock.

* Conservative MP Alan Duncan claimed £598 for the overhaul of a ride-on lawnmower.

* Tourism Minister Barbara Follett claimed £25,000 for security men at her Soho flat.

* Conservative MP David Heathcoat-Amory claimed for more than 550 bags of horse manure (at 70p a bag).

* Conservative MP Douglas Hogg claimed more than £2000 to have the moat around his mansion cleared. He also claimed for a piano tuning and for work to be carried out on his stables.

* Labour MP Sian James claimed 59p for a chocolate Santa.

* Labour MP Shahid Malik claimed £730 for a massage chair and £65 for a court summons for the non-payment of council tax. He also tried to claim £2,600 for a home cinema system, although that was reduced to just over £1,000 by the Commons Fees Office.

* Conservative MP lawmaker Sir Peter Viggers claimed £1645 for a floating "duck island" in his garden pond.

More of the claims have been listed by the Daily Telegraph here.

- AP, NZ HERALD STAFF