The survey says: MPs’ new cash for questions wheeze

IT HAS been a bumper year for cash-forquestions with MPs using a simple life hack to top up their paltry £81,932 salaries (plus expenses, free housing and travel). Seventy-two MPs pocketed a total of over £70,000 by filling in surveys, with some earning £250 for just one hour’s work answering polling questions for cash.

Labour’s Dan Jarvis found time between representing the people of Barnsley Central and serving as Mayor of South Yorkshire to fill in 29 polls in the year to November, earning nearly £3,000 on top of his £161,000 salary for both jobs – plus £120 in Amazon vouchers, according to his Register of Interests. He insists he didn’t ‘personally profit’ from the work.

‘Every penny received is used to support the running of my office and my work as an MP,’ he said.

Nineteen other Labour MPs and 43 Tories were paid to take part in surveys by pollsters including

IPSOS Mori, YouGov and Savanta Comres, which claim the parliamentarians provide essential information to reproduce in official reports and studies. Among the penetrating questions on matters of vital national significance are, who is their tip to become Speaker of the House of Commons, and who do they regard as the most ‘impressive parliamentarian’. Here are a

few of my own for the next round of MP surveys:

Which wallpaper should Carrie Johnson refresh the Downing Street flat with in 2022? And do you know any donors who will pay for it?

What should Matt Hancock get Gina for Valentine’s Day?

Will anyone go to jail for profiteering from the pandemic?

Should all Ministers have a ‘find my phone’ app as standard?

Is Lord Geidt right to give Downing Street ethics oversight to Dilyn the dog?

Is ethics next to Sussex?