MPs are refusing to agree to move out of their taxpayer-funded London flats during their long holidays because it would “misleadingly suggest” they do not do any Parliamentary work during the summer months.

Earlier this year the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority proposed requiring MPs to move out of their rented second homes during holidays to cut their expenses' bill.

However MPs on the House of Commons standards committee raised questions over whether it would save money and warned that would unfairly suggest MPs were taking the summer off work.

In the consultation published in May, Ipsa proposed requiring MPs “to rent serviced accommodation but require them to move out in the long recess over the summer”.

Currently 320 MPs who do not have a constituency in the London area charge the rental costs on their second homes to the taxpayer; of these 290 live in rented flats and homes in London. The cost of paying for MPs’ accommodation is £7million a year.

In a response to Ipsa's proposals, they said: “Members conduct parliamentary work throughout the year in Westminster and the Committee believe that making accommodation provisions based on sitting times would misleadingly suggest that MPs do not conduct parliamentary business during recesses and does not reflect the reality of the amount of time MPs must spend in Westminster.