MANY of Gwent's MPs have declared donations, gifts and earnings worth thousands of pounds since the last General Election.

Research by Sky News and Tortoise Media compiled publicly-available information on declarations of income by members of parliament and political parties.

The new tool, Westminster Accounts, lets users search and analyse their MP's declared earnings and find out who is funding them.

In Gwent, six of the region's seven MPs have declared outside earnings since the December 2019 General Election.

Those payments, which must be declared in the UK parliament's register of members' interests, are in addition to the salary each MP receives, the basic rate of which was around £84,000 last year.

Only Conservative MP David Davies, who represents Monmouth and also joined the cabinet as the secretary of state for Wales last autumn, has not declared any extra income, according to the tool - he is one of 65 MPs in this position. 

The remaining six MPs are all from the Labour Party.

Caerphilly MP Wayne David has received £2,275 in earnings from other employment since the last election, as well as two gifts or other benefits worth £1,410.

Mr David noted the declarations were "all already publicly available" and told the Argus: "Most of the sums I have received are payment for completing opinion research surveys and have been donated to charities.

"Regarding the 'gifts and expenses', one is reimbursement of costs for attending a conference at which I spoke, the other was expenses and hospitality when attending a rugby game".

Chris Evans, the Islwyn MP, has earned six £200 payments from market research firm Ipsos MORI, as well as £4,400 from Bloomsbury Publishing, which in 2021 released his biography of former Leeds United and England football manager Don Revie.

Newport West MP Ruth Jones, like many of her Labour colleagues nationwide, has received donations from trade unions.

These comprise £5,000 from the GMB Union, two donations totalling £4,100 from the Communication Workers Union, and another two totalling £3,500 from Unite.

Ms Jones said she was "incredibly proud" to have been supported by those organisations.

"Donations from trade unions represent some of the cleanest money in politics," she told the Argus. "It's money from working people from all walks of life in Newport West, who want to support an MP that fights their corner in Westminster.

"Since being elected in 2019 that's been my aim, and I'm honoured to have their continued support."

Likewise, Newport East MP Jessica Morden has received donations of £5,000 from the GMB and £3,000 from the union Community.

The tool also shows Ms Morden has received a gift or other benefit from the All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Polar Regions (worth £3,450), from the Parliament of Georgia (worth £400), and from the Armenian National Parliament (worth £500).

Nick Smith, from Blaenau Gwent has received two donations of £4,000 from unions - one from Community and one from the GMB - which he told the Argus "were both contributions to my election campaign".

Torfaen MP Nick Thomas-Symonds has received donations from the GMB (£2,000) and Unite (totalling £6,290), the tool shows.

The MP, a qualified barrister, has also declared earnings of £13,120 from DPA Law, as well as from publishers Weidenfeld and Nicholson (totalling £6,360), Bloomsbury Publishing (totalling £2,270), Social Affairs Unit Magazines (totalling £400) and the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (£100).

Mr Thomas-Symonds, who also received gifts or other benefits worth £500 and £400 from the BBC and Mentorn Media, respectively, told the Argus: "I welcome the transparency this tool provides and have always been open about my work as an MP.

"The legal fees it highlights are delayed payments from the time before I was elected as an MP - I have not done any paid work as a barrister since being elected in 2015. 

"I have always been open about the support I have received on behalf of the working people of Wales, via trade union donations to my election campaigns.

"As a historian, in my spare time - mainly before politics - I have written political biographies and am grateful for the royalties received."