A host of MPs, including Keir Starmer, Nadhim Zahawi and Matt Hancock, took advantage of more than £110,000 worth of hospitality tickets for free this summer.
As the cost of living crisis deepens, politicians sat in prime locations at Billie Eilish concerts, Wimbledon meets and Ascot races, all at no cost to themselves.
MPs must declare their financial interests, in part to ensure they are not pressured by companies giving them gifts.
A total of 115 different packages were registered in the register of members’ financial interests, just for the months of July and June. This value of these gifts amounted to exactly £113,376.
Thirteen MPs received at least one free ticket to Wimbledon, with Labor leader Keir Starmer and shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves in attendance.
Absent Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi received four tickets for Billie Eilish from Universal Music as well as three VIP tickets for Adele from Sony Music. They have a combined value of £1,782.
Starmer, Hancock and Tory MP Craig Whittaker also received free Adele tickets.
Whittaker’s £1,794 ticket was provided to him by the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC). This is a lobby group for the gambling industry that has already come under fire from anti-gambling activists.
BGC also gave Whittaker and four other Ed Sheeran MPs tickets as well as other tickets to cricket matches and Wimbledon.
Of the 82 MPs who received free hospitality tickets, 56 were Conservatives while 23 were Labour.
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