Rishi Sunak and cabinet ministers set out their vision for the future in Manchester, at what was likely the last party conference before a general election. But outside of the main hall, corporate sponsorship ran wild. Business leaders – including representatives from gambling and social media companies – paid up to £3,300 to dine with ministers in charge of key policy decisions, with no record of what was discussed. Policy Exchange, a think tank that does not disclose its funders and has a track record of influencing government policy, hosted a range of events.
MPs should not be allowed to earn money from secondary sources. If this means paying MPs more, then it is in our interests to do just that. We have been sold out for long enough now.
While we are at it remove all party donations and set up government funded platform for canvassing. Elections with the highest budgets are usually the most successful. It is just another form of paid legislation.
I’d like to have an idea of the history of MP pay in terms of the average salary to understand if this is a new thing, if they have always had side businesses and claimed “favours” later or if there is an actual decline in the status of “civic duty”.
MPs in the UK received £10m for second jobs and freelance in 2022..
The additional income must be declared and is then published at the register of members’ financial interest on the parliament’s website. Here’s a version from 2022 (pdf).
I personally don’t think that the additional income during their membership alone is relevant but also the ‘revolving door’ policy between industry/lobbying groups and politics, and not to forget the funding and support of campaigns a.d the like (meaning that interest groups support the party, not the individual politician).
But that’s just my opinion, and it’s not a problem only in the UK imo.
