According to data, since 2010, MPs have reported receiving more than £6 million in "freebies." The cash value of presents handed to them has nearly tripled in the last two years, prompting calls for immediate reform.

Analysis reveals that the value of "gifts, benefits and hospitality" reported by MPs increased from £483,507 in 2021 to £1.3 million in 2023. Additionally, throughout the same time period, the number of donations rose from 337 to 768.
However, as ministers are exempt from having to report their presents on the register of MPs' interests, the overall amount of gifts will be far higher. It also doesn't account for interest-free loans of seven figures given to lawmakers.

Statistics indicate that in the last two years, MPs have accepted donations equal to approximately half of all donations received since 2010. They included honorary club memberships, helicopter rides, payment for legal bills, badges for horse racing meets, and tickets to concerts and sports games.Alistair Graham, a former chair of the committee on standards in public life, suggested that MPs should be asked to give more detail about larger gifts and said the rules around transparency should be the same for MPs and ministers.

“I don’t think if somebody is given a ticket for a football match it’s likely to influence their policymaking decisions,” Graham said. “The scale of the freebie I think is important. The larger amount, the more likely the organisation or individual is going to seek some benefit from it. ​We perhaps need a threshold above which more detail is given.

Rob Ford, a professor of politics at the University of Manchester, said that from the public’s perspective the issue would be those who are perceived to be abusing the system.

“A lot of people might have done a corporate hospitality jolly at a football match. But if you’ve got someone doing it 20 times a year, they’ll think that seems a bit dodgy,” he said.

​Experts underlined that the declarations system offered transparency and enabled scrutiny of MPs’ gifts and hospitality.

Since the row over Lord Alli’s donations, the Labour top team has pledged to stop taking clothes as gifts. Analysis found clothes made up a tiny proportion of gifts, with free hospitality making up a much bigger proportion of declarations.

Taking into account the relative size of the parliamentary parties, Conservative MPs declared more gifts on average than Labour MPs between 2010 and 2022, at which point Labour MPs started receiving more than their Tory colleagues.

Gifts to Conservative MPs were also worth more on average over the same period – £1,372 per item in 2023, compared with £867 for each gift to a Labour MP.

After Robertson, the former MP who declared the most gifts and hospitality items was the former Commons speaker John Bercow (82 gifts – 32 of them tickets to tennis matches including Wimbledon). He was followed by Theresa May (79 gifts – mostly for the VIP suite in Heathrow, which former prime ministers make use of).

A Heathrow spokesperson said: “We always take a view on how to maintain a safe and efficient operation at the airport. At our discretion, we have the option of providing limited access to the Windsor suite where we consider it will make the best use of the airport’s security resources. As the register reflects, the proper reporting procedures have been followed.”

Philip Davies, who set up a consultancy firm as election defeat loomed, accepted 77 gifts after 2010, 55 of which were from betting or horse racing firms.

The gifts, hospitality and benefits which MPs accepted came from a variety of donors, but certain industries and businesses including airports, gambling companies, sports and members’ clubs, broadcasters and other music and entertainment industry companies featured heavily.

The Guardian identified 156 MPs who accepted 393 tickets or other freebies from football clubs and leaguesafter 2015 with a combined face value of more than £284,000.

In the same time frame, bookies and other gambling organisations gave at least 84 MPs gifts totalling more than £270,000. These gifts frequently included tickets to sporting events like football games.

A total of £200,000 in complimentary hospitality has been offered to 113 different MPs by broadcasters. Once more, these were mostly tickets to sporting events or cultural ceremonies like the National Television Awards or the Baftas.

At least 92 MPs have received gifts totalling more than £192,000 from record labels, festivals, and music industry groups since 2015. These presents include passes to award shows, concerts, and performances by Kylie, Adele, the Cure, and the Rolling Stones.