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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Politics
Mikey Smith

MPs enjoy £82,000 worth of freebies in 2 months while Brits scramble to pay bills

Schmoozing MPs pocketed more than £82,000 worth of VIP tickets to concerts and sporting events in just two months, while Brits scramble to pay their bills.

In June and July, 65 MPs accepted freebie tickets with hospitality for events including Wimbledon, Glastonbury, the British Grand Prix and concerts by Ed Sheeran, Adele and the Rolling Stones.

The Mirror's analysis found Tory MPs declared more than twice as many freebies by value, with 42 Conservative MPs accepting £54,033 worth of tickets.

By comparison, just 20 Labour MPs declared freebies, worth a combined £24,621.

The costly tickets, many of which were for sold-out events and included VIP hospitality, were provided by sports bodies - like the Football Association and Lawn Tennis Association, private firms including drinks distributor Diageo and oil giant BP, and lobbying groups including the Betting and Gaming Council, UK Music.

Some 15 MPs declared tickets worth a combined £13,258 for Wimbledon - while 11 declared £9,657 worth of hospitality at Royal Ascot.

The Hospitality enclosure at Royal Ascot (Getty Images)

They included Labour’s Conor McGinn, who attended in his capacity as chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Horse Racing.

Tories Brandon Lewis, Helen Grant, Laura Farris and Laurence Robertson also declared gifted tickets to the races - with Mr Robertson attending two days in a row.

Another nine were gifted declared hospitality at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, worth £15,596.

The British Grand Prix at Silverstone (REUTERS)

And eight declared tickets and hospitality for Glastonbury festival, worth a combined £12,170.

Ed Sheeran was the most popular individual musical artist, with seven MPs including leadership candidate Kemi Badenoch and Culture Secretary Therese Coffey accepting a combined £6,200 worth of tickets to his five-night stand at Wembley Stadium.

Five MPs, including Matt Hancock, Keir Starmer and Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi attended Adele’s concerts in Hyde Park, with freebies worth £2,493.

Millionaire Mr Zahawi also accepted £480 worth of tickets for Billie Eilish’s O2 Arena concert on June 23.

The freebies were published in the House of Commons Register of Interests, on which MPs are required to declare gifts and donations.

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