Expenses a 'farce' - Bristol MP
The retiring Labour MP said the fees office at the House of Commons had blacked out too many documents which were published last week on an internet list.
Dr Naysmith, 68, who is retiring at the next General Election, said the only information he had asked to be censored were bank account details and personal information relating to staff.
He said: "No one realised that so much was going to be blacked out.
"The only things I blacked out were do with staff addresses and bank account details."
He said he was happy for the address of his second home – a one-bed basement flat in John Adam Street, Westminster – to be published.
He is proud of the fact that his home address and phone number can be found in BT's telephone directory.
Dr Naysmith claimed a total of £141,111 expenses in 2007/08 which made him 401st highest out of 645 MPs.
The previous year, he claimed a total of £143,415, which made him 203rd highest.
He claimed £3,870 in four years to cover laundry bills and a cleaner for his London flat.
He said about a quarter of his cleaning bill was the cost of laundry and dry cleaning.
He uses his Senior Rail Card, which gives him a 20 per cent reduction on rail fares, and travels free in London because he is over 60.
Dr Naysmith said: "The rules say you should only claim what you need to claim in order to do your job and I have tried to stay within the spirit of those rules."
He has not flipped his address to change the designation of his second home to claim expenses for furniture and refurbishments.
He has also never claimed the maximum £400 a month food allowance.
But he said it could be argued that he had "slightly transgressed" by claiming as much as he had on food because he lived on his own and often worked in the House of Commons until after midnight when it was too late to cook.
He said there should be an independent body to manage MPs' expenses.
"I think it has to be taken out of the hands of MPs," he said.
"In order to get people to trust MPs again, there will have to be some sort of independent body. It is rather bureaucratic but it has to be taken out of MPs themselves.
"What some people have done is dishonest and in some cases, probably criminal and needs to be investigated.
"There are others who have exploited the system to the full. They have stayed within the rules but not stayed within the spirit of only claiming what you need to claim in order to do your job."
On his website, Dr Naysmith says: "By far the largest part of my expenses (and the one which is, perhaps, least understood) goes on paying my staff and running constituency office.
"This is paid directly by the House of Commons Fees Office and does not come into my hands at all.
"The latest available figures show that I claimed 78 per cent of the permitted £22,193 (£17,393) for the rent and heating of my office in Southmead, plus the telephone, computer equipment and stationery.
"I employ one full-time assistant in my office at Westminster and the equivalent of two full-time caseworkers and a part-time secretary in my Southmead office.
"Their salaries come to 85 per cent of the permitted £100,205 (£84,962) though in some earlier years this was higher because a previous secretary had multiple absences due to ill health and I had to employ several temporary replacements.
"My staff are my first point of call for the many constituents who contact me with problems."
Doug Naysmith's expenses:
2007/08
Rent: £16,197
Food: £2,600
Utilities: £414.19
TV licence: £135.50
Council tax: £886.18
2006/07
Rent: £15,248
Food: £2,385
Utilities: £226.80
TV licence: £131.50
Council tax: £856.70
Other: March 2007 – £150 on laundry; £50 for bed linen and £40 for crockery/glassware.
2005/06
Rent: £14,394
Food: £1,300
Utilities: £441.32
2004/05
Rent: £14,775
Food: £2,325
Utilities: £183.41
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