MPs Elliot Morley of Scunthorpe, David Chaytor of Bury North and Livingston's Jim Devine will appear at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court.

They will be joined by Lord Hanningfield, who faces charges relating to his claims for House of Lords allowances.

Their prosecution, at a court a short distance from Parliament, is the first to result from the Westminster expenses scandal. All four have denied any wrongdoing but if found guilty, they could face jail sentences of up to seven years.

Morley is alleged to have dishonestly claimed a total of £30,428 more than he was entitled to in second home expenses on a house in Winterton, near Scunthorpe, between 2004 and 2007 - including 18 months after the mortgage on the property was paid off.

Chaytor faces charges that he claimed almost £13,000 in rent in 2005 and 2006 on a London flat which he owned, as well as £5,425 in 2007 and 2008 to rent a property in Lancashire owned by his mother. He is also alleged to have used false invoices to claim £1,950 for IT services in 2006.

Devine is alleged to have claimed £3,240 for cleaning services and £5,505 for stationery using false invoices in 2008 and 2009.

Hanningfield faces six charges of false accounting, relating to claims for overnight allowances from the House of Lords between 2006 and 2009, when records allegedly show he was in fact driven to his home near Chelmsford. The three MPs were barred from standing as Labour candidates at the forthcoming general election. Hanningfield was suspended from the parliamentary Conservative Party and stood down as leader of Essex County Council.

The charges were announced by Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer following a nine-month investigation triggered by the leak of expenses details to The Daily Telegraph. Insufficient evidence was found to press charges against former Labour chairman Lord Clarke of Hampstead.

Meanwhile, it was reported that the Metropolitan Police has launched a criminal inquiry into Leyton and Wanstead MP Harry Cohen after he claimed around £70,000 for a second home while allegedly renting out his main residence.