By Democrat reporters
Research by Sky News shows MPs with outside roles earn £233 per hour on average – 17 times more than the national average.
However, our two local MPs Martin Docherty Hughes for West Dunbartonshire and Brendan O’Hara, of Helensburgh, Cardross and Argyll, have no second jobs.
SNP MPs Martin Docherty Hughes for West Dunbartonshire and Brendan O’Hara, of Helensburgh, Cardross and Argyll.
And are not included in the list along with Boris Johnston and Liz Truss, two recent Tory ex-Prime Ministers whose boots aren’t big enough to stuff with the wads of cash coming their way.
It’s not explained why Docherty and O’Hara haven’t had their snouts in the trough, as have some of their SNP mates.
It’s either because they are intent on avoiding the possibility of scandal that will inevitably be attached to this latest revelation or they neither want nor need a job outside parliament.
MPs should “focus on serving their constituency” rather than on second jobs, Rishi Sunak’s official spokesperson has said, in reaction to reports from Sky News.
Research by Sky’s Westminster Accounts project today revealed MPs earned an average £233 per hour for roles outside of parliament – 17 times higher than the national average and over 22 times more than the hourly minimum wage.
The data also showed MPs had spent almost 89,000 hours carrying out the work since the start of the parliament in 2019.
All of this falls within the currents rules, as long as MPs declare who they worked for, for how long, and how much they were paid.
Asked about the findings, the prime minister’s spokesman said an MP’s “primary focus must always be on serving their constituency”, and that it would be their voters who “decide if they’ve done a good enough job” as their representative in Westminster.
But they failed to commit to any changes to the rules that allow additional work to take place.
Earlier, the SNP’s former Westminster leader, Ian Blackford, pictured right, said there was a “legitimate debate” to be had about MPs’ outside earnings.
Mr Blackford – who earned over £38,000 for 31 hours of work over the past four years – told Sky News it was “important the public can have trust in those they send to parliament” and people were “rightly appalled” by some of the “eye watering” sums being paid to MPs.
The SNP MP added: “Being an MP is a very important job, it is a full-time job. Of course, at the end of the day you are accountable to your electorate when you stand in front of them at the next election. I think most MPs do work very hard, it is an all-consuming job.
“But absolutely, let’s make sure that there is full transparency on this, that people are not abusing the privileges that are put to them as members of parliament.”
However, Tory MP and chair of the health select committee, Steve Brine, accused Westminster Accounts of “smearing” politicians.
Mr Brine, who has worked 497 hours in second jobs this parliament on an average of £200 per hour, told Sky News: “I’m focused on my constituents, I focus on chairing my select committee and I always have [been].
“I think you should be very careful about smearing MPs and making out that MPs are not focusing on their jobs – 99.9% of MPs I’ve met in Westminster are focused on doing their job and doing the right thing.
“Be very careful before you run our profession into the ground.”
Responding to our research, Education Secretary Gillian Keegan – who hasn’t earned any money from second jobs – told Sky News the figures were down to “just a small number of people” who were “getting paid an awful lot” for speeches.