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The organisation behind FixMyStreet, TheyWorkForYou, WhatDoTheyKnow, WriteToThem — and other empowering online tools.
** MPs receiving gifts
& donations
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** ...what’s ok?
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A bottle of champagne chills in an office environment
Dear friend,
Thanks to Nigel Farage and the gifts he received from a crypto billionaire, political donations are all over the news again.
It’s not the first such story, nor will it be the last — but whatever your feelings about this particular matter, we believe that standards must be raised around money in politics.
We’ve been looking more closely at the gifts MPs receive ([link removed]) . Who do they come from, and is it always fine for our politicians to receive them? We’d love to hear your views.
** What do you think?
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* Is it OK for MPs to get paid for making controversial posts on X?
* is it OK for MPs to receive tickets to sought-after events?
* should MPs receive any gifts or donations at all?
We want to hear what you think: head over to our survey ([link removed]) and let us know.
Share your views ([link removed])
Better standards start with transparency.
Through our WhoFundsThem ([link removed]) project, we’re working to build better information about the sources of funding politicians receive. We've been exploring links between gifts given to MPs and the questions they ask in Parliament — and a complaint we made ([link removed]) , based on what we found, has already resulted in a formal apology from one MP.
** Help us work to build better information about money in politics
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Your donations give us time to dig deeply into the register of interests, understand the problems, and act strategically to raise standards of transparency and behaviour across our elected representatives.
Support our work ([link removed])
A man's hands, seen filling in an expenses slip
** Get up to speed
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** What is the Register of Interests?
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Thanks to parliamentary rules, MPs must declare when they are given a gift which “others might reasonably consider to influence his or her actions or words as a Member of Parliament”. These declarations are published fortnightly while Parliament is in session, in the Register of Interests.
But when is the last time you, or someone you know, actually took a close look at the register? Maybe never?
Luckily for you, we’ve been keeping an eye on this data (plus, we publish it on each MP’s page of TheyWorkForYou).
We also pull out the highlights of each fortnightly release of the Register in this regularly-updated blog post ([link removed]) .
** Why not take a look at who's funding your MP?
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1. Visit TheyWorkForYou ([link removed]) .
2. Put in your postcode to be taken to your MP’s page.
3. You'll see the ‘Register of Interests’ tab on the left of their page.
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mySociety is a registered charity in England and Wales (1076346) and a limited company (03277032).
Through our trading subsidiary SocietyWorks (05798215) we also provide commercial services.
Photo credit: champagne - ** Emma Houghton ([link removed])
; filling in an expenses slip: ** Adolfo Félix ([link removed])
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