Kent MPs will be forced to disclose more details about their expenses after the House of Commons' authorities failed in their latest bid to block their publication.

A High Court ruling rejecting an appeal against the publication of more information paves the way for the release of detailed receipts of 646 MPs, covering their expenditure on furniture, household bills, cleaning and repairs, mortgages and rent.

It will also see the disclosure of MPs’ private addresses. Some of the information is expected to be published this week.

In their ruling, Sir Igor Judge, president of the high court's Queen’s bench division, Lord Justice Latham and Mr Justice Blake said: "We have no doubt that the public interest is at stake.

"We are not here dealing with idle gossip, or public curiosity about what in truth are trivialities. The expenditure of public money through the payment of MPs’ salaries and allowances is a matter of direct and reasonable interest to taxpayers."

They added that whether payments had been made to MPs within the rules, and whether the rules were appropriate, "bear on public confidence in our system at its very pinnacle, the House of Commons itself".

The legal wrangle follows efforts by Freedom of Information campaigners to compel the Commons to publish more information about expenses.

Fellow Kent Conservative MP Hugh Robertson recently said he supported more openness, saying the row was damaging Parliament.

He said: "It is utterly wrong that a system should have grown up whereby allowances are seen by a small minority as a proxy for salary and the system is in need of total reform."