MPs’ expenses for the first two months of this year, including the amount they racked up on their taxpayer-funded credit cards, were being laid bare for the first time today.

Almost 25,000 claims were submitted for January and February, totalling more than £3.2 million. Some 84 MPs were refused a total of £4,633 by officials at the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority.

Details of the claims for second home, travel, office and staff costs were unveiled by Parliament’s new expenses watchdog on its website.

They are the latest tranche of payments approved by the body set up to enforce tighter rules on MPs’ use of taxpayers’ cash in the wake of the 2009 expenses scandal.

Ipsa also disclosed for the first time the sums being put on the official payment cards issued to MPs, which saw them rack-up a bill of £880,000.

The rules were relaxed amid politicians’ protests and they can now use the cards with a £4,000 monthly limit to pay for stationery, hotels and constituency office costs.

They were already used to cover travel, utility bills and council tax.

Shropshire MPs’ claims for the start of this year, which totalled more than £25,000, were controversy-free.

Shrewsbury and Atcham MP Daniel Kawczynski claimed £3,857; North Shropshire MP Owen Paterson, £2,940; Telford MP David Wright, £4,017; Ludlow MP Philip Dunne, £1,818; The Wrekin MP Mark Pritchard, £5,543; and Montgomeryshire MP Glyn Davies, £7,036.

Mr Pritchard’s figures for November and December were not made available earlier this year.

However, his figures have since been updated to show that during that period he claimed £4,386, making a total of 72 claims, including a highest claim of £880 for professional services (staff) and a lowest claim of £4 for congestion charges.

Deductions were made for three of Mr Pritchard’s claims during that period. Claims of £15 and £10 were not paid while a water bill claim for £175 was reduced to £157.72.

Following the release of the latest figures today, Mr Dunne said: “Being an MP is now like running a small business.

“We employ people, we have office premises for them to work in, in the constituency and have normal office expenditure.”

Mr Kawczynski added: said: “”I am pleased that the expenses system has been clarified so that it is very easy to see what MPs have spent money on.”