January 14, 2023 9.00 am This story is over 13 months old

The Westminster Accounts: Key findings from financial interests of Lincolnshire MPs

A look at Lincolnshire MPs and their register of financial interests

By Local Democracy Reporter

From advisory roles at international banks to Red Wall funding from members-only groups, data from the government’s register of financial interests has revealed the amount of money given to Lincolnshire’s MPs by external bodies and donors since the last General Election.

The Register of Members’ Financial Interests is readily available to the public on the UK Parliament website, and data analysis from Sky News and Tortoise Media has collated this information to evaluate which MPs received the most in donations or additional income through secondary employment.

These donations typically go towards campaigning, staffing or office costs, but can also include the declaration of gifts, event hospitality and also external sources of income for MPs.

Of all the donors across British politics, Unite the Union lead the way with £9.4 million handed out to Labour MPs since the 2019 General Election, followed by Lord David Sainsbury who gave £8 million to the Liberal Democrats over this time period.

Here are some of the findings from Lincolnshire MPs and their financial interests, varying from personal donations by a local billionaire to a mysterious broadband company seeking business in the North of England.


Karl McCartney: IX Wireless and Lincoln Proteins

| Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

Much has been made of little-known broadband company IX Wireless’ consistent donations to Conservative MPs – one of which was Lincoln’s Karl McCartney.

Mr. McCartney is the only Lincolnshire MP to receive money from IX Wireless, a private limited company registered to an address in Blackburn with just two staff members, according to Companies House.

The Lincoln MP was given a total of £7,500 from IX Wireless in two separate payments – one for £2,500 in August 2021 and another for £5,000 in October 2022.

The company themselves have been very coy with the national press in regards to their intentions with these donations, which total more than £138,000 for Conservative MPs since 2019.

Karl McCartney told The Lincolnite: “I can confirm that all my donations and financial interests are correctly declared. The financial donations which are received by the local Conservative Association are used for campaigning including the 2019 General Election campaign and informing my constituents about how I am representing them.

“It is no different to the huge financial donations made by trade unions to the Labour Party which no doubt will be substantial for the forthcoming General Election, including here in Lincoln. Labour is happy it seems to receive large amounts of funding from trade unions who are currently holding the country to ransom.

“It is also of significant interest that one company donated £340,000 to just three Labour MPs and that those backing the Just Stop Oil campaigners have also been making large donations to the Labour Party, even though they also have caused such huge disruption to people and business.

“In contrast to my and the Conservative Party Election Expense Returns that list all donations even those of £10, there is no transparency, and has not been for some time, with regard to the Lincoln Labour Party and candidates’ election expenses funding, a point that has been repeatedly made to the Electoral Commission.”


Andrew Percy given thousands by company behind rejected electricity link project to France

Conservative MP for Brigg & Goole Andrew Percy. | Photo: NLC

Brigg & Goole MP Andrew Percy received more than £20,000 for his role as an advisor for a Canadian clean energy company in just eight months in 2021.

Iogen Corporation are a carbon-negative fuel producer that turns agricultural waste into clean fuel, and the financial register shows that Mr Percy worked in an advisory role for the company between April and November 2021 – earning £20,130 in that time.

As well as this, the MP was given two separate donations from Aquind, the company proposing a submarine power cable linking France and England, totalling £15,000 in two payments.

£10,000 was donated by Aquind in January 2020, followed by a further £5,000 in July 2022 – while director of Aquind Limited Alexander Temerko also gave Andrew Percy £2,000 in March 2021.

The £1.2 billion electricity link to France project was refused permission by then-business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng in 2022, but the ruling is now subject to a judicial review at the High Court, brought by Aquind Limited themselves.

Andrew Percy was contacted on the nature of these donations by Aquind, but did not reply before publication.


Victoria Atkins has ZERO declared financial interests

Louth and Horncastle MP Victoria Atkins

Ten of Greater Lincolnshire’s eleven MPs had multiple details on their register of financial interests, but Louth and Horncastle MP Victoria Atkins was the only one to have a completely clean record since the 2019 General Election.

In terms of donations and/or gifts, Victoria Atkins had nothing on the register, but did have an unpaid role as a member of the Connected Coast Board listed – which is a joint board for the Mablethorpe and Skegness Towns Fund.

Victoria Atkins was contacted on this matter, but no reply was received.


County’s first billionaire donates to two Northern Lincolnshire MPs

David Ross, the Grimsby-born co-founder of the Carphone Warehouse, giving a lecture at the University of Lincoln. | Photo: Claire Andrews

David Ross, the co-founder of the Carphone Warehouse and now a philanthropist, became Lincolnshire’s first billionaire at the height of his business journey – and he also finds himself involved in the Westminster Accounts story.

Ross donated £3,000 each to Great Grimsby MP Lia Nici and Brigg & Goole MP Andrew Percy in January 2020 – shortly after the landslide victory achieved by Boris Johnson and the Conservatives in the 2019 General Election.

The reason for this donation is unclear, but will likely have something to do with David Ross’ roots in the Grimsby area – with £6,000 being a mere drop in the ocean compared to the near £27 million his charity (The Ross Foundation) has given to education, sports and arts facilities across the country.


Red Wall MPs rewarded by high-society members only groups for 2019 victory?

Holly Mumby-Croft (left) and Lia Nici (right) who are the Conservative MPs in Scunthorpe and Great Grimsby.

Lia Nici and Holly Mumby-Croft both breached the famed Red Wall in 2019, winning their respective Great Grimsby and Scunthorpe seats at the last General Election as part of a colossal Conservative victory.

Holly Mumby-Croft became the first Conservative MP in Scunthorpe ever, while Lia became the first blue representative of Great Grimsby since 1935 – and it would appear that both were given a pat on the back for this achievement.

Appearing in both of their registers of financial interests were £5,000 donations from a group called the Stalbury Trustees, regular funders of the Conservative party.

According to Companies House, the Stalbury Trustees are concerned in “activities of political organisations”, consisting of John Duncan Grimston, the Seventh Earl of Verulam, Ulric David Barnett, a descendant of the Third Earl of Verulam, Lord Charles Edward Vere Cecil, the son of the Sixth Marquis of Salisbury, and his brother Robert Michael James Cecil, the Seventh Marquis of Salisbury.

In total, the Stalbury Trustees donated approximately £131,000 to Conservative MPs since December 2019, many of which were in Red Wall constituencies.

Both Holly Mumby-Croft and Lia Nici were contacted on this matter, but neither issued a reply.


Martin Vickers and HM Government of Gibraltar

Martin Vickers is the Conservative MP for Cleethorpes.

Cleethorpes MP Martin Vickers has said it is “not for me to question the decisions of the Government of Gibraltar” in response to their appearance on his register of financial interests.

A payment of £2,450 was made to Mr Vickers by HM Government of Gibraltar in September 2022, which the MP says was for briefings on UK legislation that affects the nation, despite it being on overseas territory.

The MP told The Lincolnite: “The way this is presented can be easily misunderstood as it can appear that these monies are paid to the individual MPs.

“This is a collation of information from the register of interests. None of the donations are to me personally.

“It’s not for me to question the decisions of the Government of Gibraltar but they obviously consider it worthwhile to invite a delegation of UK Parliamentarians to briefings both in Gibraltar and London.

“In recent years these have focused on Brexit negotiations. As a British Overseas Territory the UK Parliament has responsibilities for some legislation that affects them.

“For example, they voted to remain members of the EU but have left because the UK voted to leave. Clearly it is far better for MPs to understand in full the impact of the decisions we take.”


Sir John Hayes topping Lincolnshire financial charts

Sir John Hayes MP for South Holland and the Deepings.

By far and away the MP with the most declared financial interests in Lincolnshire was South Holland and The Deepings’ Member of Parliament Sir John Hayes.

Sir John had 61 declared interests since the 2019 General Election, working out at approximately £349,800 in total, which is more than 400% of the annual salary of an MP.

Most of his declared interests come from secondary sources of income, including his part-time role as a politics lecturer at the University of Bolton and president of Highbury Burton Saudi Arabia – a company which runs a school for women in the Middle Eastern nation.

The South Holland and The Deepings MP also received £2,400 from Reach plc for column writing in one of their publications, but the standout figure came from his employment as an advisor for oil company BB Energy Trading – where he earned close to £150,000 in the space of three years.


Sir Edward Leigh and the Europe Arab Bank

Gainsborough MP Sir Edward Leigh.

Gainsborough MP Sir Edward Leigh earned £94,090 during a near two-and-a-half year spell as a non-executive director of the Europe Arab Bank, between December 2019 and April 2021.

This, and a £200 payment from the BBC in January 2022 are the only things to appear on Lincolnshire’s longest serving MP’s register of financial interests.

Sir Edward’s communications team said: “As stated in the publicly available Register of Members’ Financial Interests, Sir Edward formerly served as a non-executive director of Europe Arab Bank.

“For this work, he was remunerated the amount published in the Register. As the Register also shows, Sir Edward no longer serves as a non-executive director of the bank.”


Gareth Davies’ local property firm donors

Gareth Davies, Grantham and Stamford MP. | Photo: Conservatives

It was real estate investors and property firms found on the register of financial interests for Gareth Davies, MP for the Grantham and Stamford area, since the 2019 General Election.

Davies has publicly listed a £5,000 donation from IPGL in January 2020. It is a London-based venture capital and private equity firm, operating under the nature of “activities of other holding companies not elsewhere classified”, according to Companies House.

As well as this, the Lincolnshire MP was given £3,000 by Grantham Investments, £3,000 from the Stamford Property Company and £2,500 from Springfield Park Properties in January 2020 – all of which operate within Gareth Davies’ constituency.

That same month he also received a £2,000 donation from Charles McDowell, a property specialist in central London and member of the Conservative Party’s Treasurers Team.

The Grantham and Stamford MP also received £450 from data analytics firm YouGov between January and September 2021, as well as £400 in two separate payments from market research company Ipsos MORI – with both roles listed as earnings from another employment.

Gareth Davies was asked about these listings on his register of interests, but no reply was offered.


JCB’s Conservative donations

A JCB digger. | Photo: High Contrast

Multinational manufacturing giant JCB was the top Conservative donor over the last three years, with the party being the recipient of £3.3 million in donations from the firm since the last election.

JC Bamford has been a notorious funder for the Conservative party over the years, so it comes as little surprise to see these figures emerge on the financial interests register.

Two Greater Lincolnshire MPs, Lincoln’s Karl McCartney and Scunthorpe’s Holly Mumby-Croft, were the only ones in the county to receive donations from JCB since 2019.

In January 2020, Karl McCartney was given £3,000 by JCB, while Mark J Bamford, a director of eight companies within the JCB Group, gave Holly Mumby-Croft £5,000 in December 2019.


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