Greedy Lords can keep expenses if they spent one night a month at their "main home", Westminster officials ruled yesterday.

Peers who live outside London can claim the "overnight subsistence" allowance of £174 a time to pay for staying in the capital. Many Lords who spent most of their time living in the city were claiming it until the expenses scandal broke.

Officials said yesterday they could keep the cash if they went to their main residence once a month when the House was sitting. Labour MP John Mann said: "It defies all logic."

Rules being brought in to clean up Westminster aim to stop peers claiming the money.