Hundreds of MPs have enjoyed freebies that total in excess of £180,000 this summer, according to Guardian reports.
Cabinet ministers Oliver Dowden and Jeremy Hunt are among those to have accepted tickets to concerts and sporting events, with tickets given away by banks, oil companies, the gambling industry and media firms.
Paul Scully, a science and technology minister, accepted £1,100 worth of tickets to a Billy Joel concert from the Betting and Gaming Council, and Wimbledon hospitality to the tune of £1,560 from the oil and gas company, BP.
Andrew Griffith, meanwhile, accepted a £400 ticket to the Ashes and £2,000 of hospitality at Silverstone from his former employer, Sky.
Sir Keir Starmer
Even Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has got in on the action.
He was given tickets to a Coldplay concert in Manchester worth £698 by a concert promoter, while the Jockey Club gave him a box and hospitality at the Epsom Derby worth £3,716.
Other shadow cabinet ministers to accept free tickets include Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, who was given hospitality worth £1,050 at Hay festival courtesy of the broadcaster Sky and £600 worth of tickets to the opera at Glyndebourne by a lobbying and public affairs company, FGS Global.
Alex Beatty, of Spotlight on Corruption, said: “With the UK in the grip of a cost of living crisis and at a time of declining trust in our politicians, it is both disappointing and concerning to see this sharp increase in the value of hospitality accepted by MPs.
“Hospitality enables private interests with the deepest pockets to access and potentially influence MPs and ministers. This can undermine the quality and integrity of decision-making away from the public interest and towards whichever company forked out for the strawberries and cream.”
Motivation
Rose Whiffen, from Transparency International UK, said: “When parliamentarians are offered gifts and hospitality from private companies, they should ask themselves what the motivation behind this is.
“Private companies may use sporting and other events as opportunities to ingratiate themselves with parliamentarians and bend parliamentarians’ ears.
“Unfortunately, interactions at social occasions between ministers and outside interests rarely see the light of day, owing to limited rules around lobbying. In order to ensure that lobbying no longer happens behind closed doors, the government must update the rules to address the informal lobbying loophole.”
Responding on behalf of the ministers, the Cabinet Office said: “This government is committed to transparency, which is why we’ve made crucial reforms and publish more than ever before.” It said parliament decides the code of conduct for MPs, setting out what lawmakers must declare.
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