MPs' expenses to be published online

Gordon Brown wants to regain the country's trust after the expenses scandal

Prime minister Gordon Brown has announced plans to publish MPs' expenses online, in a bid to increase government transparency and accountability.

Brown told the House of Commons today that the public had a right to a better standard of "financial conduct" from their MPs, adding that confidence had been shattered in government expenses procedures.

All MPs' past and future expenses will therefore be published on the internet "in the next few days", according to the prime minister.

"We cannot move our country forward unless we break with these old practices and the old ways. Each of us has a part to play in the hard task of regaining the country's trust, not for the sake of our different parties but for the sake of our common democracy," he said.

"Without this trust there can be no legitimacy, and without legitimacy none of us can do the job our constituents have sent us here to do. We must reflect on what has happened, redress the abuses, make sure that nothing like this can ever happen again, and make sure the public sees us as individual MPs accountable to our constituents."

Perhaps because of the sensitivity of the data involved, the government will turn to external sources for help in rolling out and managing the programme. Internet pioneer Sir Tim Berners-Lee will work with a government team to roll out the measures in the best manner possible.

"So that government information is accessible and useful for the widest possible group of people, I have asked Sir Tim Berners-Lee, who led the creation of the World Wide Web, to help us drive the opening up of access to government data on the web over the coming month," said Brown.

The expenses scandal has rocked all political parties, prompting the resignation of members of the Cabinet and putting Brown's leadership in question.