BARNSLEY’S three MPs collectively accepted more than £100,000 in donations and gifts last year, new documents have revealed.
MPs are required to declare their financial interests within 28 days of the start of a new Parliament and must also disclose any gifts or benefits they receive that could be reasonably considered to influence what they say or do in their respective roles.
Labour MPs received the highest amount, totalling £9.3m, followed by the Liberal Democrats with £3.2m and the Conservatives with £1.7m.
Newly-elected Penistone and Stocksbridge MP received £52,300 in donations, while Barnsley North’s Dan Jarvis was given £42,500 in donations and £1,232 in gifts and benefits.
Barnsley South MP Stephanie Peacock was given the least of the town’s trio of representatives, receiving £2,000 in donations and £3,839 in gifts and benefits.
Labour’s Yvette Cooper was the top recipient, securing £393,000, including £210,000 from former Autoglass boss Gary Lubner to fund ‘three additional members of staff for my office over the next 18 months’.
Other Labour MPs including Ed Miliband and Rachel Reeves also received over £300,000 in donations.
Gifts such as tickets to football games and concerts were also declared, as well as costly overseas visits by several MPs.
Rose Whiffen, the senior research officer behind the study, said: “Politicians should be careful when accepting gifts and hospitality from private interests.
“Enjoying the generosity of companies and wealthy individuals risks the appearance of benefitting personally from their public role and damages trust in our political system.
“Decision makers should ask themselves why they’re being taken care of so generously and what expectations of them may follow.
“To avoid perceptions of undue influence it should be clear that any decisions they make are in the wider public interest and not just their financial backers.
“This would be greatly assisted by a comprehensive lobbying register - a cap on individual donations would also help improve the perception that money can buy access.”
Data for how much MPs earned from paid employment was also included in the release.
The figures show Reform’s Nigel Farage is the highest-earning MP - he declared receiving almost £98,000 a month for presenting GB News, for a reported 32 hours a week.
Dan told the Chronicle: “We rightly don’t have state sponsored funding of political parties in this country, which means that all politicians need to raise money to support their work.
“The money generously donated to me is used to support the running of my offices in Barnsley and Westminster and helps provide additional staff capacity and resource so I can deliver the very best possible service to my Barnsley North constituents.”
Stephanie said she has always ensured that she keeps on top of anything that needs to be declared, and agrees that it is right that they should be publicly available in the interest of transparency.
“I received a donation in order to support my work and those working with me throughout the general election campaign.
“As Shadow Minister for Media, Gambling and Sport ahead of the July election, I attended events in this capacity, some of which had a cost associated with them.
“MPs rightly have to declare our interest, and further details of these costs can be seen transparently on www.parliament.uk.”
Marie added: “All donations to me have been made and registered with the Parliamentary authorities in accordance with the rules governing declarations of interest for MPs.
“There’s no public funding system for paying for election campaigning in the UK, all political parties therefore have to fundraise to run their general election campaigns.”
