Rishi Sunak has said “transparency is really important” in reaction to Sky News’ Westminster Accounts project.
The prime minister said there was a reason that “rules and regulations” are in place surrounding donations to MPs after the project launched on Sunday.
Sky News and Tortoise Media launched a new database of MPs’ second jobs and donations – the first time they have all been collated in one place.
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Mr Sunak said: “I think transparency is really important for the healthy functioning of democracy, it’s absolutely right that there’s disclosures around donations and outside interests.
“And transparency is a good thing, and I fully support it.”
He said transparency is integral “and that’s why we have a set of rules and regulations in place”.
However, he did not answer when asked whether it was right that some MPs are being given six-figure donations.
During Mr Sunak’s first speech as prime minister, he pledged to lead the government with “integrity, professionalism and accountability at every level”.
As part of the project, a leaderboard has been compiled showing how much money external organisations and individuals have donated to MPs since the end of 2019.
These donations generally go towards campaigning or staffing and office costs, but also include declarations of gifts and hospitality.
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The biggest donors to MPs since the last election
Search for your MP using the Westminster Accounts tool
Two of the biggest unions – Unite and GMB – top the list as the biggest donors, with some of Sir Keir Starmer’s frontbench team receiving substantial sums, as well as those to the left of the Labour Party who are no longer in favour.
The third-biggest overall donor to individual MPs – all senior Labour MPs – however, is a company registered to an office in Hertfordshire that has no website and, according to its accounts, has no employees.
MPM Connect Ltd has given £345,217 to three well-known Labour MPs: shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper (£184,317), shadow health secretary Wes Streeting (£60,900) and former mayor of South Yorkshire Dan Jarvis (£100,000).
Yvette Cooper’s office initially issued a response which they said could not be quoted.
However, after Sky News published this story, a spokesperson for the shadow home secretary said: “MPM Connect is an investment company in the employment sector owned by Peter Hearn, a UK businessman and long standing Labour supporter, and as has been reported many times, Mr Hearn kindly donates money to fund Yvette’s office staff and has done so for many years.
“It has all been fully declared and compliant with all the rules. Like lots of companies, MPM Connect is registered to their accountants office, as is made very clear in its Companies House entry.”
Prior to publication, Mr Streeting also only offered a short response saying all donations had been declared in the proper way.
This afternoon a spokesperson issued a new statement, saying: “Peter kindly funds staff for Wes’s office. Wes is proud to have successful business people supporting the Labour Party in our campaign to win the next election and give Britain the fresh start it deserves. This has been declared in the proper way in accordance with the rules.”
A low-profile broadband provider from Blackburn, IX Wireless, also ranks in the top 20 donors, giving a total of £138,801 in campaign donations to 24 Conservative MPs.
The government of Qatar is the fourth-biggest donor to MPs, with its Ministry of Foreign Affairs giving a total of £249,932.16 worth of benefits in kind.
Labour MP Sir Chris Bryant, who received £7,350 from the Qatari government to take a trip there, told Sky News he regrets going and suggested MPs should pay when they travel abroad.
“I wanted to go because at the time they were the only extract place from Afghanistan and I had 135 constituents, or people related to constituents, who were going out through that evacuation and I wanted to help them,” he said.
“To be honest, I hated the trip. I wish I hadn’t gone and in the end I think it is good for MPs to have good relations with other countries but maybe we, the MPs should be paying for it rather than other countries. “
Sir Chris, who is also Chair of the Committee on Standards, praised the Westminster Accounts investigation, saying he has been pushing for Parliament to make the data on MPs more accessible.
UK ‘one of the most transparent in the world’
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‘We have a lot of transparency’ – Chancellor
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt also told Sky News that the information will help people make more informed decisions at the ballot box.
“People should know what income their MPs are receiving, what funding they have for their political campaigns. I think it’s really helpful that you have put that information together so people can make a judgement at the ballot box as to whether MPs are behaving the way they want”, he said.
Asked about the prospect of reforms, he insisted the UK has one of the most transparent systems “in the world”.
“We have a lot of transparency, that has allowed you to put together the database,” he said.
“If people have concerns they will express them at the ballot box.”
