A group of Leicestershire MPs have slammed attempts to prevent details of politicians' expenses being published.

Proposals have been tabled by House of Commons Leader Harriet Harman which would mean any published allowances would not contain the details of individual receipts.

These details would also be exempt from release under Freedom of Information (FOI) law.

The Government has said processing thousands of receipts from MPs is costing the Commons Authority too much time and money.

However, Leicester South MP Peter Soulsby said it should be information people can see.

He said: "Everyone should be prepared to publish all of the details of their expenses and if that leads to embarrassing questions then they should explain why that is."

The move, scheduled to be put to a vote on Thursday, would also be backdated.

The Commons Authority had already spent up to £1m scanning about a million receipts – which may now never be released.

Leicester East MP Keith Vaz, Labour, said: "The public is entitled to the greatest degree of transparency from MPs on the issue."

Harborough MP Edward Garnier, Conservative, said: "This is public money and you simply can't treat it as if it wasn't. I don't understand why ministers are seeking to block this – it's extraordinary."

The Commons Authority paid £150,000 over three years fighting FOI requests demanding disclosure of a receipt-by-receipt breakdown, only to lose the battle when the High Court said information should be released.

Leicester West MP Patricia Hewitt defended the proposals saying they found the right balance.