SOMERSET MPs make additional income from shareholdings, land and property, donations and other jobs, official records show.

Since April 2020, MPs have received a basic salary of £81,932, and they are allowed to claim staffing and business expenses.

They can claim expenses for accommodation outside their constituency, travelling to London to attend Parliament, as well as office and staffing costs.

In recent weeks, MPs’ finances have come under scrutiny after Owen Paterson, the former MP for North Shropshire, was found to have breached lobbying rules in relation to two companies that paid him more than £100,000 a year.

MPs are not allowed to receive payment for raising issues in the House of Commons or with Government ministers.

Mr Paterson resigned after the Government found itself embroiled in a 'sleaze row' after initially choosing to protect Paterson by supporting an amendment to overhaul the standards watchdog.

This week, Labour called for an investigation into House of Commons leader and North East Somerset MP Jacob Rees-Mogg.

Labour suggested that Mr Rees-Mogg breached the financial rules by failing to declare £6 million in low-interest loans from Saliston Ltd, a holding company he owns.

Thangam Debbonaire, shadow leader of the House of Commons, said Mr Rees-Mogg not declaring the loans was an "egregious breach of the rules".

Mr Rees-Mogg said his ownership of Saliston is "declared clearly in the Commons register and to the Cabinet Office".

He added Saliston "has no activities that interact with government policy".

"The loans from 2018 were primarily taken out for the purchase and refurbishment of [my home] as temporary cashflow measures," he said. 

"All loans have either been repaid with interest in accordance with HMRC rules or paid as dividends and taxed accordingly."

Discussing the 'sleaze row' on his podcast, Mr Rees-Mogg admitted he made a "mistake" by encouraging the prime minister to support the standards reform amendment proposed by Dame Andrea Leadsom.

Unless they are ministers, MPs can hold other jobs.

They can also generate income from shareholdings, and land and property portfolios; accept financial donations and gifts from permissible sources, and employ family members.

They must declare this information in the Register of Members' Financial Interests, a public document last published on November 1.

Here are the declarations of financial interests made by Somerset MPs:

Somerset County Gazette: NORTH EAST SOMERSET: Jacob Rees-Mogg (Image: UK Parliament)NORTH EAST SOMERSET: Jacob Rees-Mogg (Image: UK Parliament)

Jacob Rees-Mogg, North East Somerset

As leader of the House of Commons, Mr Rees-Mogg receives an additional £31,680 on top of his salary as an MP, according to a Government document.

Because he is a cabinet minister, he is not allowed to hold other jobs. 

In the Register of Financial Interests, Mr Rees-Mogg has listed his ownership of Saliston Ltd.

Until April, Mr Rees-Mogg also held over 15% of issued share capital of an investment capital firm, Somerset Capital LLP. 

The register shows he now has shareholdings in the company valued at more than £70,000. 

Mr Rees-Mogg owns residential property, land and related farm buildings in Somerset worth more than £100,000, and he earns more than £10,000 in rental income a year from them.

He also makes more than £10,000 a year from residential property he owns in London worth more than £100,000.

In October, Mr Rees-Mogg accepted honorary membership of the Carlton Club – a private members’ club in London – for the duration of his tenure as leader of the House of Commons.

Somerset County Gazette: NORTH SOMERSET: Dr Liam Fox (Image: UK Parliament)NORTH SOMERSET: Dr Liam Fox (Image: UK Parliament)

Dr Liam Fox, North Somerset

Dr Fox's Register of Interests includes a "six-month retainer fee" worth £10,000 from WorldPR, a firm based in Panama. 

The retainer fee covers the period September 1 until February 28.

Since registering the payment, Dr Fox listed his hours worked with WorldPR as "none to date".

In February, Dr Fox received "unexpected payments" of £230 and £150 from Telegraph Media Group for writing articles published in The Telegraph newspaper on December 26 and January 11.

On July 19 and August 7, Dr Fox received payments of £1,000 from Associated Newspapers Ltd for articles he wrote for the Mail on Sunday, published on June 20 and August 8.

The former secretary of state for international trade also has a contract with Quercus Editions Limited for writing a book.

The register lists four donations he has received worth a combined total of £28,000. 

They are from Avre Partnership Ltd (£3,000), BMJ Waste Ltd (£10,000), Dukehill Services Ltd (£5,000), and Alexander Temerko (£10,000).

Mr Temerko describes himself as a "prominent member of the Conservative Party" and "a vocal supporter of the unity of the United Kingdom and of British membership of the EU". 

He is a director of Aquind Limited, a company responsible for building a power link between the UK and France, and he used to hold posts in the Russian Defence Ministry. 

Dr Fox received part-use of a holiday home in France from SCI Kerr, a French real estate company, for two weeks in August worth approximately £3,430.66. 

In July, he accepted a total of four hospitality tickets for two Wimbledon matches worth a total of £1,297.40 from the All-England Lawn Tennis Club.

He has also accepted honorary life membership of the Carlton Club.

Dr Fox earns money from residential property in London valued at over £100,000 that gives him rental income of more than £10,000 a year.

Somerset County Gazette: TAUNTON DEANE: Rebecca Pow (Image: UK Parliament)TAUNTON DEANE: Rebecca Pow (Image: UK Parliament)

Rebecca Pow, Taunton Deane

Mrs Pow earns an additional £22,375 on top of her MP’s salary for her role as parliamentary under-secretary of state at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

This means she is not allowed to hold a second job. 

Mrs Pow has registered land and property worth over £100,000 that gives a rental income of £10,000 a year. 

These are two houses in Somerset (one of which is jointly-owned with her sister); agricultural land jointly owned with family members, including income from a telecom mast; and and a commercial building in Somerset, of which she owns a 10% share. 

Somerset County Gazette: SOMERTON AND FROME: David Warburton (Image: UK Parliament)SOMERTON AND FROME: David Warburton (Image: UK Parliament)

David Warburton, Somerton and Frome

Mr Warburton holds over 15% of issued share capital of Oflang Limited, a family property development company he has described as "largely dormant".

He is the chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Music, and he accepted a BRIT Awards ticket worth £900 from UK Music in May.

He employs his wife, Harriet Warburton, as a communications officer and personal assistant.

Somerset County Gazette: YEOVIL: Marcus Fysh (Image: UK Parliament)YEOVIL: Marcus Fysh (Image: UK Parliament) (Image: UK Parliament)

Marcus Fysh, Yeovil

Mr Fysh holds more than 15% of issued share capital of two companies: West Sea Investments (formerly London Wessex Ltd) and Samfire Proprietary Ltd (formerly Wessex Investments Proprietary Ltd).

He is an unpaid director of both companies.

Until May 31, he was an unpaid director of two companies within the Samfire Proprietary group: Alibante Developments Limited and Makoonor Holdings Limited.

All of these are investment companies.

Mr Fysh currently has "beneficial interest via futures, options, contracts for difference and other holdings" in 40 companies.

These include Apple Inc, the Bank of America Corporation, and the Microsoft Corporation.

Several of the companies are linked to precious metal mining or "precious metal resources".

Other companies he has an interest in operate in real estate, energy, insurance, information technology, financial services, and biotechnology healthcare and vaccines.

Somerset County Gazette: WELLS: James Heappey (Image: UK Parliament)WELLS: James Heappey (Image: UK Parliament) (Image: UK Parliament)

James Heappey, Wells

In July 2016, Mr Heappey accepted an honorary golf club membership from Burnham and Berrow Golf Club for the duration of his time as an MP.

The membership held an annual value of £1,050 a year in 2017.

Mr Heappey, a former army officer, holds an unpaid role on the town board at Mendip District Council.

Somerset County Gazette: BRIDGWATER AND WEST SOMERSET: Ian Liddell-Grainger (Image: UK Parliament)BRIDGWATER AND WEST SOMERSET: Ian Liddell-Grainger (Image: UK Parliament) (Image: Archive)

Ian Liddell-Grainger, Bridgwater and West Somerset

Mr Liddell-Grainger employs his wife, Jill Liddell-Grainger, as a parliamentary assistant.

Somerset County Gazette: WESTON-SUPER-MARE: John Penrose (Image: UK Parliament)WESTON-SUPER-MARE: John Penrose (Image: UK Parliament)

John Penrose, Weston-super-Mare

Since December 2015, Mr Penrose has been a member of the Priory Multi-Academy Trust in Weston-super-Mare.