Nearly one in five MPs have regular paid work outside parliament, according to an independent committee report.
In an analysis of MPs’ second jobs by the committee for standards in public life, 119 members were found to have declared total earnings of approximately £279,000 per month.
The committee called for a tightening of the MPs’ code of conduct, with any breach triggering an automatic investigation by the parliamentary standards commissioner.
MPs should also be banned from taking on outside jobs as parliamentary strategists, advisers or consultants, the committee said.
Lord Bew, the committee chair, said MPs should continually demonstrate integrity, and that some have failed to do so.
“Where a small number of individuals have taken up outside interests beyond what might be considered reasonable, it risks undermining trust in parliament and parliamentarians,” he said.
Based on parliament’s register of members’ interests up to March, the total annual earnings from regular outside interests amounts to approximately £3.35m.
The register includes three consultants/advisers, 30 writers and 59 speakers, panellists or radio contributors.
Jobs as political strategists and advisers are much less common…
