And the Shrewsbury and Atcham MP today said he would be paying back more than £4,000 – something the figures did not take into account.

Overall, Shropshire's MPs, along with Montgomeryshire's Glyn Davies, claimed a total of £255,000.

According to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, Mr Kawczynski claimed just over £64,800 on top of his basic salary of £65,738, putting him 13th in the list of highest claimants.

Of that, nearly £27,000 went on accommodation.

But Mr Kawczynski said that figure was misleading, and meant it looked like he had claimed more than he had.

He said: "You cannot go above £22,000 on accommodation.

"If you do you have to pay the money back.

"So because mine is more, I have been invoiced for £4,000.

"Before December 1 that will have to be paid back."

Mr Kawczynski said it was also important to stress that he did not see any of the money.

He said: "When you say 'expenses' there is a perception that its money that goes into my pocket."

He said the figures had also been skewed by some one off costs including the redesign of his website – which was carried out by a Shrewsbury company – and additional research costs.

He added: "Over the last eight years I have always been in the bottom quartile. It concerns me that this year I have gone up and I will look at ways to keep budget expenditure to a minimum while not reducing services to constituents."

Nationally, the bill for MPs' expenses rose by more than seven per cent last year to £98 million.

Spending is now higher than in the run-up to the scandal that rocked Westminster in 2009.

Most of the increase was down to larger staffing budgets – but the cost of MPs' personal expenses also rose from £23.5 million in 2011-12 to £23.8 million last year.

Other details released by Ipsa showed that MPs handed out £13,163 in "reward and recognition" payments to 49 staff members last year.

The rules give politicians discretion to distribute "reasonable" sums when employees have performed well – although family members are not eligible.

Wrekin MP Mark Pritchard, who claimed a total of £56,680, gave one member of staff £750.

The figures show that Cabinet minister Owen Paterson, who represents North Shropshire, claimed £23,643; Ludlow's Philip Dunne claimed £22,345; Montgomeryshire's Glyn Davies claimed £52,275; and David Wright, representing Telford, claimed £35,524.

Mr Davies said: "Being an MP brings with it cost.

"I try to minimise mine as much as possible.

"I live a long way away from London in a rural constituency so I inevitably travel a lot.

"I have accommodation near the House of Commons which actually costs me more than I claim.

"I hope I provide value for money and I hope people realise it is impossible for me to make it any less."

Mr Wright said: "I try very hard to ensure that my claims are reasonable and I work hard with my staff to ensure that we keep costs down."

Ipsa claimed it had saved the taxpayer £35 million since taking over the expenses system in 2010.

However, it used figures from two years before it started work – and before the expenses scandal broke – as a baseline to calculate the saving.