North East MPs gifted free sports tickets worth more than £11,600 since 2023

Written by on 17th April 2024

North East MPs have pocketed more than £11,600 in gifted sports tickets in the last year, an investigation by Spark can reveal.

 

According to data from the Register of MP Interests, MPs in the North East were gifted £11,633.55 in tickets to sports events including Men’s and Women’s FA Cup finals, Wimbledon, WWE, and Newcastle’s sell-out game against PSG in the Champions League. The data covers the period from the start of 2023 to the end of February this year.

 

It comes as Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove apologised last week after breaking Parliamentary rules by not registering freebies from football club Queens Park Rangers.

 

Unlike Mr Gove, all the donations below were registered in the proper way with the Parliamentary Register of Interests and there is no suggestion of foul play.

 

Outgoing Bishop Auckland MP, Dehenna Davison, received the highest combined value of free tickets. Her hospitality tickets to the FA Cup final and WWE event ‘Money in the Bank’ totalled £3,015.

 

Ms Davison’s FA Cup tickets were donated by the English Football League. 

 

Spark understands the EFL has an engagement strategy which involves hosting MPs at matches.

 

Meanwhile, Conservative Party Chairman and MP for North West Durham, Richard Holden received more than £2,500 in tickets to two Premier League matches and hospitality at England’s One Day International cricket match against New Zealand.

 

Mr Holden was gifted hospitality tickets to Chelsea v Aston Villa on September 24, 2023 by the Premier League.

 

Spark understands this was part of the Premier League’s stakeholder engagement programme.

 

Labour MPs round out the rest of the top five receivers of sports freebies, with Shadow Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson gifted tickets worth £2,215 to the Wimbledon Royal Box and the Ashes at the Oval.

 

Jarrow MP Kate Osborne was gifted tickets to three separate football games – the Women’s FA Cup final and the Women’s Nations League match between England and Scotland from the Football Association, and hospitality at Crystal Palace, gifted by the London club. These tickets were worth a combined £1,184.

 

“We host key stakeholders at all of our events at Wembley Stadium and across the country,” an FA spokesperson said.

 

“Whilst a small number of tickets go to political guests through this stakeholder engagement, we also have a wider community and charity programme which last season provided more than 50,000 complimentary tickets to our community and charity partners.”

 

Fifth on the list is Shadow Minister Chi Onwurah, who received a corporate ticket to Newcastle v Manchester United worth £780 from a private donor. 

Graphic by Joshua Nichol

 

Catherine McKinnell received tickets to Newcastle Racecourse worth £600, while Teesside MPs Sir Simon Clarke and Matt Vickers also received tickets to football matches. 

 

Sir Simon received two sets of tickets to Middlesbrough FC matches worth a combined £500 and Mr Vickers was gifted tickets to England v Ukraine worth £499.

 

Retiring Gateshead MP Ian Mearns was given a corporate ticket to Newcastle’s 4-1 demolition of football giants PSG by Newcastle Airport. It was worth £330.

 

Professor Simon Chadwick, an expert on the politics of sport economy, said that MPs are more likely to choose to meet in hospitality suites because of the privacy they offer.

 

“Hospitality areas of sports venues are ungoverned spaces that enable stakeholders to quickly and freely gain access to politicians and other important people,” Professor Chadwick said.

 

“If one requests a meeting with an MP, it can sometimes take months if not years to gain access to them. 

 

“But invite them to a game and they will often say yes without hesitation. Once inside hospitality areas, there are no prying eyes which means that those who invited them can engage politicians without scrutiny from the likes of journalists.”

 

Meanwhile, anti-sportswashing group ‘Newcastle United Fans Against Sportswashing’ have called on Mr Holden, Ms Onwurah and Mr Mearns to donate the value of tickets they received to Newcastle matches to fund their current campaign in support of Salma al-Shehab, a mother imprisoned in Saudi Arabia.

 

“The revelation that North East MPs have received freebie tickets to Newcastle United matches raises serious question marks over their pre-Saudi state takeover of the club commitments to hold the 80% owners to account regarding human rights,” a spokesperson said.

 

“If they are serious about speaking up for human rights, the least MPs who have attended Newcastle United matches for free can do is donate the money they would have paid for the tickets to the #FREESALMA campaign to pay for posters and support the protest publicly on April 27.”

 

Spark has reached out to all MPs and parties in the region who have registered gifts of sporting tickets in the last year. 

 

A Labour Party spokesperson said: “All donations received by Labour members of parliament are registered in the proper way.”

 

The Conservative Party did not respond.

 

Find the full list of North East MPs by value of sports ticket gifts below:

 

Name Total donations
Dehenna Davison £3,015.00
Richard Holden £2,509.85
Bridget Phillipson £2,215.00
Kate Osborne £1,184.70
Chi Onwurah £780.00
Catherine McKinnell £600.00
Simon Clarke £500.00
Matt Vickers £499.00
Ian Mearns £330.00
Alan Campbell £0.00
Alex Cunningham £0.00
Andy McDonald £0.00
Anne Marie Trevelyan £0.00
Emma Lewell-Buck £0.00
Grahame Morris £0.00
Guy Opperman £0.00
Ian Lavery £0.00
Ian Levy £0.00
Jacob Young £0.00
Jill Mortimer £0.00
Julie Elliott £0.00
Kevan Jones £0.00
Liz Twist £0.00
Mary Glindon £0.00
Mary Kelly Foy £0.00
Nick Brown £0.00
Paul Howell £0.00
Peter Gibson £0.00
Sharon Hodgson £0.00

 

This story was also published in The Northern Echo here


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