MP for Penrith and the Border David Maclean has defended the purchase of a £3,000 quad bike with taxpayers' money, reports Paul Duncan.

Mr Maclean, who launched a parliamentary bill to exempt MPs from freedom of information laws, has responded to an article in the Mail on Sunday that revealed he bought the 250cc E-Ton Vector quad on his parliamentary expenses by saying he needed the machine to fulfil his constituency role as he was slowly losing the use of his legs due to multiple sclerosis.

Mr Maclean's proposed the private members' bill, which was controversially accepted by MPs in the House of Commons last Friday, to exempt MPs from the Freedom of Information Act. He believed this was necessary to protect private letters between MPs and their constituents from requests under the Freedom of Information Act, which gives people the legal right to information which is held by a public authority.

Critics claimed, however, that the bill would allow MPs to hide behind the new legislation and would prevent disclosure of details such as expenses.

Mr Maclean said that the quad bike was the most efficient way of getting around his rural constituency.

"I have no wish to have to use a quad bike, nor walking sticks for that matter, but I will not be forced into a wheelchair prematurely just because some in the national media dislike my views on the Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill," said Mr Maclean.

He said he had undergone a series of treatments in an attempt to combat the effects of the disease but he needed his quad bike to fulfil his duties.

He also said he had not kept the purchase of the quad bike a secret and it had been approved by the House of Commons' authorities.

"Without that bike I cannot do my full job as an MP. If I could get new legs on MPs' expenses then I would apply for them also. I will be using the quad bike extensively this summer, more so than last year. I will use roller skates if I have to and nothing and no-one will stop me until the electorate of Penrith and the Border decide that I am no longer fit to do the job," he said.

Sixty MPs have declared their support for Mr Maclean by signing an early day motion "saluting the bravery" he has shown in dealing with his illness and endorsing the parliamentary department's decision to approve the purchase of his quad bike.

Official figures show that Mr Maclean claimed £129,700 in expenses last year, which ranked him 134th out of 646 MPs.

Meanwhile, MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale Tim Farron has described Mr Maclean as "cynical" for proposing the bill that he said would restrict levels of accountability and "alienate an already increasingly apathetic public".

"MPs should set an example of open government, not apply it to everybody but ourselves. There are over 100,000 public bodies in the UK; today David Maclean and Labour MPs voted to exempt one, and it happened to be the House of Commons," said Mr Farron.

Mr Farron also said the bill would "clearly diminish respect for Parliament" but he was hopeful it would be overturned in the House of Lords. "I hope the public will make their views very clear to the MPs who supported the bill and to the next prime minister that this is absolutely the wrong direction for open, accountable government,"

In response to the criticism, Mr Maclean has this week drafted an amendment to the bill to include a clause that would make the annual publication of MPs expenses a statutory requirement.