One in seven MPs still gives job to a family member – and you’re hit with £3million bill

Two ministers are among the 88 MPs paying relatives up to £60,000 a year

ONE in seven MPs had their wives, husbands or children on the public payroll last year, costing the taxpayer up to £3million.

Cabinet Ministers were among 88 politicians who paid family members – or ‘connected parties’ – up to £60,000 to work in their offices.

Of these, more than a third received wage increases to push them up into the next pay bracket, which are listed in £5,000 bands.

Some politicians were able to pay their spouses over the strict pay limits set by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa). The revelations come as Britain faces a cost of living crisis, with rising energy bills, hefty national insurance rises, and inflation set to hit 7.5 per cent.

Sir Alistair Graham, former chairman of the committee on standards in public life, said: ‘At a time when the budgets of families are more than fully stretched, it is shocking that 88 MPs are being allowed to continue to boost their family income by employing family members in their offices.

‘Ipsa should intervene to end this scandal. MPs should only employ staff who have been successful in an open competition. It’s indefensible public funds should be used in this

‘Should intervene to end this scandal’

way. One suspects for some members of parliament it’s not about employment it’s about boosting their family income.’

Lib Dem spokesman for political and constitutional reform, Alistair Carmichael, said: ‘Parliament should lead on equal chances for all, not just jobs for the family.’

The Daily Mail analysed the business costs incurred by MPs for the financial year 2020-21.

In 2010, Ipsa banned MPs from employing more than one ‘connected party’ following the outcry over the expenses scandal. The remaining staffer would have to be paid within the pay scales set by Ipsa, but those already employed could retain their salaries.

In 2017, the watchdog banned any MPs elected after then from employing family members. But because restrictions only applied to new hires, staff already on the public payroll were allowed to keep their jobs. There is no suggestion that any of the MPs have broken parliamentary rules.

Last year’s wage bill for ‘connected parties’ totalled up to £3.05million if all staff were paid the maximum salary in the pay bracket cited. The minimum bill was at least £2.65million. Salaries are given in bands of £5,000, so it is impossible to know exact figures.

Ipsa recommended a two per cent pay rise for MP’s staff last year, but increase given to each connected party is not known.

Of the 88 MPs employing a ‘connected party’, 58 were Tories, 24 were Labour, two were SNP and four were from the DUP. Cabinet Ministers employing close family members include Nadine Dorries and Therese Coffey. Both their relatives received pay rises last year that pushed them into the next highest pay bracket.

The Culture Secretary’s daughter Jennifer Dorries is paid up to £50,000 as a senior parliamentary assistant. The Work and Pensions Minister’s sister Clare Coffey earns up to £30,000 as a part-time caseworker. Former Justice Minister Robert

Buckland also increased his wife Sian Buckland’s pay last year by at least a third. In 2020/21, she was paid between £20,000 and £24,999 for her part-time role as senior caseworker, compared to £10,000-£14,999 for the previous year.

The Tory MP said this pay hike was ‘due to a change in her working hours’ which were ramped up from 16 to 26 per week due to the increased workload of the pandemic and the departure of another staff member. From next month her hours will reduce to 14 per week, he said.

The highest-paid of the ‘connected parties’ was Christine Chope, wife of Tory Sir Christopher Chope, who earned up to £60,000 for her secretarial work.

Ipsa guidance states a senior secretary outside London can be paid a maximum of £32,750 – about half of her current salary.

But the MP for Christchurch in Dorset said because he has employed his wife since 1985, her current contract ‘long predates’ the Ipsa framework. He said: ‘All the staff in my office continue to work very hard and provide excellent value for the money they earn’.

Peter Bone, MP for Wellingborough, last year had the physiotherapist-turned-Tory-councillor he left his wife for on the payroll. Helen Harrison was on a wage of

up to £45,000 per year as a senior parliamentary assistant. The couple moved in together in April 2019 and she stepped down from her role last August.

Bob Blackman, Tory MP for Harrow East, employs his wife Nicola as his office manager for between £45,000 and £50,000.

He said she ‘often works hours that would be considered above and beyond what could be expected of any of my other members of staff and therefore provided exceptional value for money.’

Laurence Robertson, MP for Tewkesbury, employs his wife Anne who last year received a pay rise which pushed her into the £45,000 to £50,000 bracket.

Mr Robertson was criticised in 2011 for having his wife and partner on the payroll at a cost of £65,000 a year. His ex-wife Susan Robertson and his then-girlfriend Anne were both employed in his office at the same time.

The Tory MP said his other staff members ‘probably’ received a higher pay rise than his wife and were able to receive Covid-related bonus payments ‘which connected parties were not allowed’.

Labour MP Valerie Vaz’s husband Paul Townsend and Simon Grant, who is married to Tory MP Helen Grant, both earn up to £55,000 for their roles as senior parliamentary assistants.

Mrs Grant’s office said three of Mr Grant’s four colleagues received a higher pay increase than him.

Miss Vaz said: ‘Contrary to insinuations in the media about MPs employing connected parties, Mr Townsend is well qualified, highly experienced and has provided continuity and excellent value for money for my office and constituents.’

Mrs Dorries, Miss Coffey and Mr Bone did not respond to requests for comment.

FAR too frequently, our politicians seem determined to look after their own interests to the detriment of the people they are elected to serve.

After the expenses scandal heaped shame on Westminster, MPs on all sides loftily promised to stop milking the taxpayer.

A decade on from those revelations of tawdry greed, with inflation surging and ordinary households forced to tighten their belts, have our conceited representatives been true to their word?

Don’t be silly! For them, as ever, the Commons gravy train keeps rolling on.

Today, the Daily Mail exposes how one in seven MPs still employs wives, husbands or children on the public payroll.

With an unyielding sense of entitlement, they hand relatives up to £60,000 each to help run their offices, costing the taxpayer as much as £3million a year.

Yes, MPs need staff. Family members, they argue, understand the long hours politics demands and can be trusted to handle casework sensitively and discreetly.

But how many constituents can boost their household income by getting the taxpayer to remunerate their near and dear? And the dubious practices don’t end there.

only in the surreally venal world of Westminster could MPs feather their nests by letting out property they own in London, then claiming large amounts of state money to rent second homes or pay for a hotel room near the Commons.

If they were obliged to live in their own accommodation, it would save us hundreds of thousands of pounds annually.

No politician has committed criminal offences, nor broken Parliamentary rules.

But just because something is within the letter of the law does not mean it is within the spirit. So much for MPs’ chastened pledges to become paragons of probity!

our damning findings prove how contemptuously they still treat voters.