Last year MPs with constituencies outside London spent £6.6 million on hotels, rentals and “associated costs”.

In the minutes of an Ipsa board meeting, the watchdog said the funding of MPs accommodation costs were “still viewed equivocally”.

The Houses of Parliament

They said: “This is particularly the case given that many MPs rent a property in London, retaining it throughout the year when Parliament only sits for circa 230 days of the year.”

However, one MP told the Mail on Sunday: “What they really mean is forcing us to slum it in university-style blocks which would be completely unacceptable.

“What are they going to do? Segregate us into different blocks according to party colours: Cameron’s lot in Tory Towers and Corbyn’s camp at Labour Lubyanka?” which would be completely unacceptable.

Charles Walker  Photo: Andrew Crowley

The new proposals could also include folding in the accommodation allowance into MPs’ £74,000 annual salaries.

Charles Walker, a Conservative MP, said: “The suggestion that MPs are somehow deriving a personal benefit from being separated from their families for 200 days a year is ridiculous.”

Earlier this year an investigation found forty six MPs have claimed expenses for London rent or hotels despite owning a taxpayer-funded property in the capital.

The Daily Telegraph detailed the MPs’ expenses scandal back in 2009  Photo: AFP/GETTY

In 2012 The Daily Telegraph disclosed that 27 MPs were claiming taxpayer-funded expenses to rent homes in London while simultaneously letting property in the capital.

A Ipsa spokesperson said: “Ipsa wants MPs to be able to stay in London and their constituencies, to do their jobs in two locations, and to deliver good value for money for taxpayers.

“This year we will look at a range of options for how we can do both in the future.”