The cash behind our MPs: All the foreign trips, freebies and donations given to Scotland's 59 MPs - Part One

The Houses of Parliament where MPs are often paid to travel abroad or receive gifts.

Scotland’s 59 MPs are a mixed bunch from a broad church of political views, but they all provide a route for those with money and power to influence politics at a national level.

In this series, we take a look at each MP elected to the House of Commons in the 2019 general election, who will represent Scotland for the next four-and-a-half years.

We will examine the foreign trips, freebies, outside work and donations to see who is contributing to the people you elect to represent you.

SNP MP Mhairi Black. Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

We will also work through the list of Scottish MPs alphabetically, beginning with Hannah Bardell and ending with Pete Wishart, with 15 MPs each day.

We are also beginning this exercise from 2010, rather than the earliest date for some of those elected, 2001.

For the purposes of this article, we are not including anything that involved a fee being donated directly to charity, which can include fees for newspaper columns and other work.

Many of the foreign trips are part of the workings of All-Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs), which are groups of MPs who work together around one issue or country.

SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford speaks during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons, London

Hannah Bardell – Livingston

Hannah Bardell was elected in the surge of SNP support in the 2015 election to her seat in Livingston with a majority of nearly 25 per cent.

Initially the SNP’s employment spokesperson, she was the shadow secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport between May 2018 and November 2019.

Previously working in the oil and gas industry, Ms Bardell left the oil and gas company Stork after being bullied and had signed a non-disclosure agreement, saying she was put in a “difficult position”.

In her time as an MP she has often gone on foreign trips including:

• Shortly after her election, she was taken on a trip to Pakistan in July 2015 as part of a delegation of MPs to support the work of the British Council in the country. The trip was paid for by the British Council and was worth £4,900.

• In November 2015, she took part in a cross-parliamentary visit to China to attend the 2015 UK-China Leadership Forum, and partially organised by the International Department of the ruling Chinese communist party. It was paid for by the UK China Forum, worth £2,537, and involved discussions on how to develop UK and China relations following President Xi Jinping’s visit to the UK.

• Flown to Palm Springs in California in February 2017 to speak at the Aviation Symposium, paid for by Air Quality Research Centre in a trip worth £911.

Other gifts:

• Visited Islay as part of a “fact-finding” trip paid for by the Scotch Whisky Association organised by the APPG on Scotch Whisky in October 2016. The trip was worth £379.

• Twin Media Group Ltd paid for a £150 ticket and £240 towards accommodation for a trip to the DIVA Literature Festival in November 2017.

• Channel 4 paid £2,124 for two tickets to the BAFTAs

Donations:

• In May 2017 she received £2,000 from John Ward and £4,600 from Gerald Burns in support.

Mhairi Black – Paisley and Renfrewshire South

One of the most high-profile MPs of the SNP’s 2015 intake at Westminster, Ms Black has served as the shadow secretary of state for Scotland since January 2020.

She was the youngest ever MP to be elected to the House of Commons at the age of 20 years and 237 days old since 1832, elected with a majority of nearly 25 per cent of the vote.

Foreign trips include:

• Visit to Kenya courtesy of ONE, an anti-poverty campaign group in September 2015 to see sites funded by UK international development funds. The trip was worth £2,851.

Gifts included:

• Free tickets for Glastonbury 2016 where she was a speaker and took part in a debate. Worth £446.

Donations included:

• £5,000 from Flagship Media Group Ltd, owned by Derek Carstairs who ran a newspaper group in Belfast.

Ian Blackford – Ross, Skye and Lochaber

Another SNP MP voted in on the back of the 2015 nationalist surge, Mr Blackford succeeded popular Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy, winning the seat by nearly 10,000 votes.

Following Angus Robertson losing his seat in 2017, Mr Blackford has been leader of the SNP in the House of Commons.

Outside work:

• He is also the chairman of Golden Charter Trust Ltd, which operates funeral payment plans for individuals and safeguards the money from those payment plans.

The work for the trust, where he was initially trustee and now chairman, sees him paid thousands of pounds a month.

In 2015, he was paid £4,146 quarterly for eight hours’ work as an independent trustee, plus £1,429 per day for any additional work.

Later in 2015 he became chairman, with his pay rising to £3,000 per month for eight hours of work per quarter, plus £1,500 per extra day.

He was paid an additional £1,630 for a phone call and meeting lasting six hours in November of that year, paid £4,290 for three days’ work across three months.

His salary has since been raised to £3,247 per month in April 2020, with his day rate upped to £1,575.

Overall, since he has been in parliament, Mr Blackford has earned more than £170,000 in the role.

• Earned £60,000 as chairman of Commsworld Plc, a telecoms company for 32 hours of work per year at £1,000 per month. In 2019, the Scottish Conservatives suggested Mr Blackford was due to receive a large windfall from the sale of the company.

• Owns First Seer Ltd, a croft business.

• He has an investment portfolio managed by Brooks MacDonald Plc.

• Shareholder in Commsworld and Corbion NV. the latter until November 2015.

• Owned croft plus two holiday rental properties (used as rental properties until September 2015), which were sold in November 2016 on Skye.

• Owned a house in Lanark (sold in 2019).

• Bought a house in Skye in November 2016.

• Non-executive director of New City Agenda thinktank from March 2017 (unpaid).

Gifts:

• Tickets for hospitality at Scotland v England at Murrayfield in February 2018, paid for by Energy Law Unlimited, a specialist business consultancy and law firm specialising in utility infrastructure and energy matters. The tickets were worth £1,360.

Donations:

• £3,000 donation from David Craigen in both June 2015 and June 2017 following general elections.

Kirsty Blackman – Aberdeen North