A Conservative MP and council leader in Nottinghamshire has received sporting event gifts totalling more than £5,000. MPs must register and declare any gifts they receive and the latest list of these has been published.
Freebies are posted on the Register of Members' Financial Interests, where all the donations MPs receive are declared, and tickets for the Euro 2020 championships proved to be the most popular event MPs received tickets for. The latest register has 44 entries worth a combined £93,317.41 for the Euros alone.
MPs are indeed entitled to attend sporting events via free tickets, but questions have before been asked about whether it is appropriate for them to accept gifts from gambling companies. Most MPs have however sought to defend the gifts and say they are not being lobbied by the firms.
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Ben Bradley, who sits as the leader of Nottinghamshire County Council and the Conservative MP for Mansfield, has received a total of £2,341.50-worth of Nottingham Forest tickets as well as £700 for the McDonald's Community Shield and £1,961 for Euro 2020 tickets.
In total this means Mr Bradley has received just over £5,000-worth of tickets to various sporting events. He was one of four politicians to receive a ticket for the Euros from gambling firm Power Leisure and defended the freebie at the time, stating he had not been lobbied himself.
However the register also shows Nottingham Forest Football Club also gifted him tickets worth thousands too. The Reds were recently promoted to the Premier League following their win over Huddersfield on May 29.
Speaking of the latest register he said: "Nottingham Forest are an important partner in various aspects of our work across the council, I meet them regularly, and as a Forest fan I'm grateful that they've been kind enough to have invited me to several games in their very successful season.
"For the record, I take up very few of the many invitations I get across the breadth of my role, for a whole variety of events. Anything I do attend is properly registered and published in line with the rules.
"Can I reiterate my congratulations to the club for their incredible year, that will be of huge benefit to the whole area."
Similarly Nottingham North's Labour MP Alex Norris received £1,537.60 from the Gamesys Group for Euro 2020 tickets, as well as £334.50 from the Betting and Gaming Council and £700 from Hestview, both for EFL games.
And Ruth Edwards, the Conservative MP for Rushcliffe, also received £350 of Trent Bridge tickets. Responding to this she said: "Trent Bridge Cricket Ground is in my constituency and, as the local MP, I am occasionally invited to attend matches. I declare all of this fully in my register of interests."
