“A House of Lords peer can turn up, do nothing, and claim up to £390 a day,” wrote Laila Cunningham, Reform’s candidate for London mayor, on X at the weekend.
“What’s the difference between that and welfare? If taxpayers’ money should come with responsibilities, why doesn’t that apply in Westminster?”
It’s a fair point, alright – but perhaps Cunningham might want to direct her attention to the other end of the Houses of Parliament, where one fairly prominent member of the House of Commons is pocketing £98,599 a year despite failing to speak in debates, ask questions or even vote.
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Nigel Farage, the on-off MP for Clacton and leader of the Reform party, failed to take part in a single parliamentary vote between March and June this year. He voted against Labour’s employment rights bill on March 18 and then failed to find his way into the voting corridors again until June 3, when he voted against an acceleration of the phase-out of farming subsidies in England.
In between, Farage was absent for 77 parliamentary votes in a row, skipping motions concerning crime, children’s wellbeing, pensions, Northern Ireland, the King’s Speech and even immigration.
Similarly, he asked a question at prime minister’s questions on March 25, on his hobby-horse of small boats, but then failed to contribute in the chamber again until June 1, when he made a brief contribution to a debate on child sexual offences to claim that “we are increasingly living in a two-tier justice system in this country”.
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The website mpdata, which tracks the activity of all elected MPs using parliament’s official figures, shows Farage is ranked in the bottom 8% of all MPs for voting participation, and in the bottom 16% for debate contributions.
His entire voting record since finally being elected as an MP in July 2024 – taking part in 69 votes out of 206, or just 33.5% – is the lowest of any Reform MP. And he has yet to hold a single in-person constituency surgery in Clacton in two years. He has, however, found the time to present his GB News show, give well-remunerated speeches in the US and earn £270,000 for just 12 hours’ work as a “brand ambassador” for Direct Bullion, a gold dealer.
To quote Laila Cunningham: if taxpayers’ money should come with responsibilities, why doesn’t that apply in Westminster?
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