Revealed: How much our MPs in Bedford and North Beds accepted in gifts and donations

MPs are required to declare their financial interests within 28 days of the start of a new Parliament. They must also disclose any gifts or benefits they receive that could be reasonably considered to influence what they say or do as MPs.

Newly-elected MPs must disclose any relevant financial interests from the year prior to their election.

The figures show:

Bedford’s Labour MP, Mohammad Yasin, declared a total of £11,522 for last year. Of this, £4,250 were in donations, £400 in gifts and benefits and £6,872 to pay for visits overseas

Conservative MP for Mid Bedfordshire, Blake Stephenson, received £6,400 in donations in the last year

Richard Fuller, Conservative MP for North Bedfordshire, received £7,000 in donations in the last year

In total, 498 MPs reported donations they received. Labour MPs received the highest amount, totalling £9.3 million, followed by the Liberal Democrats with £3.2 million, and the Conservatives with £1.7 million.

Labour's Yvette Cooper was the top recipient, securing £393,000, including £210,000 from former Autoglass CEO Gary Lubner to fund "three additional members of staff for my office over the next 18 months."

Labour MPs Ed Miliband and Rachel Reeves each received over £300,000 in donations.

Gifts such as tickets to football games and concerts were also declared as well as costly overseas visits by several MPs.

Rose Whiffen, senior research officer at Transparency International UK, said: "Politicians should be careful when accepting gifts and hospitality from private interests.

"Enjoying the generosity of companies and wealthy individuals risks the appearance of benefitting personally from their public role and damages trust in our political system,

"Decision makers should ask themselves why they're being taken care of so generously and what expectations of them may follow."

She added: "To avoid perceptions of undue influence it should be clear that any decisions they make are in the wider public interest and not just their financial backers.

"This would be greatly assisted by a comprehensive lobbying register. A cap on individual donations would also help improve the perception that money can buy access."

Data for how much MPs earned from paid employment was also included in the release.

The figures show Reform's Nigel Farage is the highest-earning MP. He declared receiving almost £98,000 a month for presenting GB News, for a reported 32 hours a week.

However, Mr Farage said the income was for several months work for the channel.

A statement posted on X said: "To be clear… The GB News sum paid to me and declared includes VAT, and was for several months of work. It was paid to my company, which has significant expenses."

In addition to his work with GB News, he received £16,600 from the paid video app Cameo and £4,000 for writing articles for The Telegraph.