TORY MP Greg Knight has become the first politician from the York area to have his expenses published in full.

The MP, whose East Yorkshire constituency includes Pocklington and Stamford Bridge, claimed a total of £78,569 for the upkeep of his second home near Driffield over four years.

But Mr Knight is adamant he has done nothing improper and said that for the last two years he has made two of the lowest claims among MPs - £20,886 for 2006-2007 and £18,305 for 2007-2008.

Mr Knight’s expenses show he claimed £2,600 for repairs to an uneven footpath at his home and £13,755 over four years for repairs to his roof.

Over the same period, the MP, who bought the house in 2002, claimed £4,541 in telephone bills, £4,842 on electricity and £3,802 for heating oil.

But he said his utility bills were high partly because of an ISDN line for radio interviews and partly because there was a water purification system which runs off mains electricity fitted at the house as the building is not served by mains water.

Speaking to The Press, Mr Knight said he believed The Sunday Telegraph, which published the expenses as part of a long-running probe into the claims of MPs, had hoped to find he had made claims for his collection of classic cars.

Mr Knight said: “They thought I had been claiming for garaging my cars from the taxpayer and they were rather gob-smacked when they found out I had not claimed a penny. There is no accusation that I have done anything wrong.

“In the last year, my additional costs allowance claims were 429th from the top-claiming MP and the year before I was 358th.”

Mr Knight said the bulk of the expenditure revealed by the Telegraph dated back to the last Parliament when he had a number of necessary repairs to carry out on his house.

Another Tory MP, David Davis, who was born in York, had details about his expenses published last week when it was revealed he claimed £5,700 for a new portico at his East Yorkshire home.

Through a spokesman, Mr Davis said he had no choice but to replace the portico – an open porch – after it fell apart.