Lancashire MPs have earned £134k in additional income since 2019

Rossendale MP Jake Berry sits at the top of the list when it comes to local MPs earning cash through ‘second jobs’, adding a significant £95,875 to his income between 2019 and 2022, according to earning figures from the House of Commons Register of Members’ Financial Interests.

Since September 2020, he has provided ‘strategic corporate advice’ to Manchester-based law firm Squire Patton Boggs in exchange for a monthly payment of £3,500.

Most Lancashire MPs, including Chorley MP Sir Lindsay Hoyle, Preston MP Mark Hendrick and West Lancashire MP Rosie Cooper, did not make any additional income on top of their £81,144 basic annual salary.

However, most Fylde coast MPs – with the exception of Wyre and Preston North MP Ben Wallace, the Secretary of State for Defence – earned money from employment opportunities gained outside of their parliamentary role.

Blackpool North and Cleveleys MP Paul Maynard brought in £12,500 between 2019 and 2022, and Blackpool South MP Scott Benton brought in £10,620.

READ: Blackpool South MP Scott Benton accepted almost £8,000 in free Wimbledon, Royal Ascot and Euro 2020 tickets from gambling industry

Lancaster and Fleetwood MP Cat Smith made £650 and Fylde MP Mark Menzies made £450.

Mr Maynard, whose additional income was earned through work as a consultant for the ATM network LINK, said: “As I make clear in the register of Members’ interests, I sit on LINK’s consumer council which holds them to account for the work they do on access to cash, which I have a longstanding policy interest in. LINK pays the money direct to local charities, and I derive no financial benefit myself. Diminishing access to cash hits the poorest and most vulnerable here on the Fylde coast, and my role on the Council has helped inform my campaign on promoting access to cash and wider financial services, and indeed, other poverty-related issues.”

Mr Berry, Mr Benton, Ms Smith and Mr Menzies did not respond when approached for comment.

Hyndburn MP Sara Britcliffe and Burnley MP Antony Higginbotham brought in £10,798.08 and £3,476.48 respectively, however, it is understood that this income was earned through council positions which they resigned from shortly after being elected.

Ms Britcliffe said: “I was already serving as a local Hyndburn Borough Councillor when I was elected as an MP. I stood down at the first opportunity.”

Mr Higginbotham said; “There was a deferred payment made to me in 2020, for work done in 2019, which was fully declared… The House of Commons Register of Members’ Financial Interests does, however, make very clear that this is from work in 2019 and no work has been done since getting elected.”

Who makes the most out of ‘second jobs’?

Some 319 MPs were found to be making money from employment outside of their parliamentary role: 187 from the Conservative Party, 88 from the Labour Party, 23 from the Scottish National Party (SNP), eight from Liberal Democrat, four from Democratic Unionist, three Independent, two from the Alba Party, one from the Green Party, one from the Social Democratic and Labour Party, one from Plaid Cymru and one from Sinn Fein.

Torridge and West Devon Geoffrey Cox has made the most money outside of his parliamentary role, banking an astonishing £1,835,399.89 from external employment as a barrister. One of his most notable roles was providing legal services to Withers LLP, who paid him £703,311.05 for 633 hours of work between January 25 to December 31 2021.

In second position is former Prime Minister Theresa May, who earned £1,564,076.00 from ‘speaking engagements’, including £46,750 from Telmex Foundation for a six-hour virtual talk and £38,220 from the Pension Real Estate Association for a four-hour virtual talk.

Sajid Javid, the current Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, is in third place, with additional earnings of £758,670.00. This includes £30,000 from HSBC bank for two speeches totalling four hours.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has brought in £30,629.91 from work completed outside of his parliamentary role, with all of this coming from royalties for books he has written or published.

Labour leader Keir Starmer, meanwhile, has made £41,127.46, with most of this gained through giving legal advice. In 2020, he collected £23,393.08 for providing 89 hours of legal advice.

Collectively, MPs have made a grand total of £13,117,157.16 on top of their parliamentary salaries in the past three years. Conservative MPs made £10,890,250.44, Labour MPs made £1,610,221.82, SNP MPs made £119,777.56, and Lib Dem MPs made £308,046.91.

The remaining £188,860.43 was made by MPs from other parties.

Daniel Bennett, head of operations at TopRatedCasinos, who obtained the data in a study, said: “Given the economic uncertainty and ever-increasing cost of living, MPs have come under huge fire for receiving a pay rise of £2,212 to their already generous parliamentary salary of £81,932.

"As a lot of people battle price hikes to food, petrol, and energy amid little to no pay rise, it signifies the disparity between MPs and the people they are appointed to serve. This disparity is further heightened when assessing the obscure sums MPs are pocketing from jobs undertaken outside of their parliamentary role. Whilst some MPs are making significantly more than others when it comes to this front, it does bring into disrepute the integrity and righteousness of MPs in these very turbulent times for normal citizens”.