THE UK Government tried last week to get the National Assembly to clamp down on the release of information about AMs’ expenses, we can reveal.

If the Assembly had agreed, details of individual claims made by AMs, like the controversial purchase of a £229 iPod at public expense by Welsh Conservative leader Nick Bourne, would in future have been kept secret.

But the pressure from Westminster was resisted by officials working for Presiding Officer Lord Elis-Thomas, and detailed expenses claims made by AMs will continue to be published.

Last Thursday Leader of the Commons Harriet Harman, who in 2007 defeated Peter Hain and others to become Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, announced her intention to override decisions made by the Information Tribunal and the courts and keep detailed claims by MPs secret. Only claim totals across 23 categories relating to individual MPs will be made public.

The proposal is being made despite Commons officials spending seven months and nearly £1m scanning and redacting around a million receipts – which are now unlikely to see the light of day. A vote on the plan will be held in the Commons later this week.

We can reveal that a senior official from Ms Harman’s office contacted the Assembly Commission early last week proposing that AMs’ allowances should be included in the draft order to be considered by MPs

An Assembly source told us yesterday: “It’s a case of Westminster trying it on with us, which is pretty outrageous. The official was told very quickly that we weren’t interested, and that we intended to carry on publishing AMs’ expenses, which we think is the right thing to do.”

Liberal Democrat AM Peter Black, himself a member of the Assembly Commission, said: “My view is that whenever public money is spent, there should be the greatest possible transparency and accountability.

“The Assembly has set the standard in terms of keeping the public informed. MPs should be following our lead rather than seeking to draw us into their scheme.”

Mr Black called on Welsh MPs to vote against the Harman plan, saying: “The UK Government is trying to sneak this through under the cover of the inauguration of President Obama. The Freedom of Information Act must apply to MPs just as it applies to anyone else in public life.

“MPs should not be seeking exemptions and special treatment just because it may be inconvenient for them. The public will not easily understand why it should be that the way MPs use public money should be kept secret.”

Freedom of information campaigners opposed the move to block the release of MPs’ claims, which was slipped out amid the furore over expanding Heathrow Airport. If MPs vote to endorse the plans on Thursday, they will come into force almost immediately.

Maurice Frankel, director of the Campaign for Freedom of Information, said: “The individual expenses claims of senior officials across the public sector are publicly available under the FOI Act. There is no justification for allowing MPs to meet a lower level of scrutiny than senior officials across the public sector.”

Mr Frankel pointed out that the Freedom of Information Act was amended last July to exclude MPs’ addresses from the scope of FOI requests and to prevent the disclosure of spending on regular or future travel arrangements. These changes were justified as necessary to protect MPs’ security. The new proposals, he said, could not be justified on security grounds.

No-one from Ms Harman’s office was available for comment yesterday.