How much extra has your MP declared in this Parliament?

SECOND JOBS, DONATIONS AND GIFTS OVER AND ABOVE SALARY

IT may be the dream job for any aspiring politician, but some Leicestershire MPs are earning tens of thousands of pounds extra on top of their annual salary for representing their constituency in Parliament.

From second wages to donations and gifts, amounts that many people dream of making in a year have been received on top of their wages by some of our representatives.

One Leicestershire MP has declared more than £55,000 in additional earnings, mostly made up of donations, since the beginning of the current Parliament at the end of 2019.

This comes on top of his annual salary of £84,144. The average UK annual earnings are £27,756.

MPs must declare these earnings on a register of interests. Where gifts or donations are not in cash, they must indicate the value of them.

Former PM Theresa May was the top earner nationally, having declared about £2.8 million in gifts, donations and additional pay.

Her successor, Boris Johnson, declared £1.2 million.

The majority of the extra earnings went to Conservative politicians – at least £76 million. Labour MPs declared an additional £32.4 million.

Here is how much Leicester and Leicestershire MPs have declared:

1 ALBERTO COSTA Conservative

The MP for South Leicestershire is the top earner when it comes to additional income.

He has declared £55,300 worth of interests since the end of 2019.

The majority – £54,000 – of came from donations, while remaining £1,300 was in gifts.

The biggest donation made to Mr Costa was £10,000 from Craven Builders.

2 ANDREW BRIDGEN Independent

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North West Leicestershire MP Andrew Bridgen came in second in the league of high earners, having declared £40,190 on top of his MP salary.

A total of £20,500 of this came from donations, with the largest, totalling £12,000, from JS Bloor.

Mr Bridgen, until very recently a Conservative MP before he was suspended from the party over his Covid vaccine comments, also made £19,690 from secondary pay.

Most of this came from Mere Plantations – a relationship that ha Mr Bridgen recently serving a suspension from Parliament over.

He also received £1,000 from the Daily Telegraph and £700 from media service company Open Dialogus.

3 ALICIA KEARNS Conservative

The Rutland and Melton MP came in third, although her earnings were significantly lower than both Mr Costa and Mr Bridgen.

She declared a total of £16,032. A total of £13,532 came from gifts, including a £5,340 gift from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Kingdom

of Bahrain.

She also received a single donation of £2,500 from Mark Samworth.

4 CLAUDIA WEBBE Independent

Leicester East MP Claudia Webbe has declared £13,720 in extra income. Most of this – £11,720 – has come from secondary earning from her time as a councillor in the London Borough of Islington.

Between her election to Parliament, initially as a Labour MP, and her resignation from the council in March 2021, she declared £11,520 of earnings as a councillor.

She also received a donation £2,000 from trade union Unite.

5 JANE HUNT Conservative

The Loughborough MP declared £9,600 in interests, £3,700 of which came from additional wages.

Among these are earnings of £2,400 from Charnwood Borough Council, where she sits as a councillor. She also received donations worth £5,500, and a £400 gift from Leicester City FC.

6 JON ASHWORTH

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Labour

MP for Leicester South Jonathan Ashworth declared £6,940 worth of extra pay and gifts.

Of this, £6,540 came from gifts, including £2,280 from the Trades Union Congress and £1,040 from the Football Association / Premier League. He earned £400 from ITV.

7 LIZ KENDALL Labour

Leicester West MP Liz Kendall only has one declaration, a £1,000 donation from Anthony Watson.

8 NEIL O’BRIEN Conservative

The Harborough MP declared two £300 payments from The Guardian news group as additional earnings.

9 EDWARD ARGAR Conservative

Charnwood MP Edward Argar has declared a single gift worth £300 from Lord David Brownlow.

10 DR LUKE EVANS Conservative

The Bosworth MP has not declared any financial interests since the start of the Parliamentary term.