Theatre tickets and VIP football: What were your London Assembly Members gifted in 2021?

From hundreds of pounds in dinners, to charity donations and artwork, London’s assembly members have received an array of presents during the past year.

Read on to find out what your assembly members have been gifted in 2021.

What is the London Assembly?

As well as MPs and councils, the capital city has an additional layer of governance.

The Greater London Authority (GLA), or City Hall, is made up of the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, and the London Assembly.

The Assembly consists of 25 directly elected representatives, or assembly members (AM) who hold the mayor to account, scrutinise his spending, and represent Londoners.

They are paid a salary of £58,543 per year, except for the deputy mayor which is £105,269 and the chairman of the assembly which is £70,22, and members who are also MPs receive a two-thirds abatement to their salary.

How do gifts and hospitality work?

Politicians are permitted to receive gifts, and accept invitations to events, but must declare these publicly.

The London Assembly keeps a list for each member of the gifts and hospitality they declare each year and publishes these online.

LondonWorld has compiled a list of all assembly members who declared gifts and hospitality in 2021.

GLA Conservatives

Conservative AMs declared more than £3,000 in gifts and hospitality in 2021, LondonWorld can reveal.

In total, the group members, some of whom did not declare any gifts or hospitality, declared £3,474 during 2021, and a further £4,084 was declared in travel cards as taxable benefits.

Former Tory mayoral candidate and Londonwide AM, Shaun Bailey, declared £755 - which included a lunch with the Conservative Friends of Israel, a Curry Awards dinner, a Black History Month dinner, lunch with the MP Kemi Badenoch and the Met Police Commissioner’s Excellence Awards afternoon tea.

Shaun, who also stepped down from his role as chairman of the Assembly’s policing and crime committee, also declared a £2,640 travel card for 2020-2021 as a taxable benefit.

Tony Devenish, AM for Hammersmith & Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea, and the City of Westminster, also declared £318.25 in gifts and hospitality, including dinners at the Tory party conference and a ticket to a Euro 2020 match.

He also declared a £1,444 travel card for 2020-2021 as a taxable benefit.

Keith Prince, Havering and Redbridge AM, declared £858.25 in gifts and hospitality, including a Euro 2020 ticket and a week-long loan of a motorcycle, worth £400.

Peter Fortune, AM for Bexley and Bromley, declared £856, including a VIP ticket to the England v Denmark Euro 2020 match, with MP Sir Bob Neill, worth more than £500.

While GLA Conservative group leader and Londonwide AM Susan Hall declared £208.25, including a ticket for the Euro England v Croatia match, and Londonwide AM Emma Best declared £268.25, including dinners and a football ticket.

And Croydon and Sutton AM Neil Garratt declared £110, while Andrew Boff, Londonwide AM and assembly chairman, and Nicholas Rogers, AM for Hounslow, Kingston upon Thames and Richmond upon Thames, both declared £50.

A GLA Conservative spokesperson said: “The option of a travelcard is available to all AMs to support them in travelling to meetings, constituency events and engaging with Londoners, and is declared as a taxable benefit.

“Similarly, all hospitality and gifts received in their capacity as members are declared with details published online.”

GLA Labour

Labour AMs also declared more than £3,000 in gifts and hospitality in 2021.

In total, the group members, some of whom did not declare any gifts or hospitality, declared £3,448.50 during 2021, and a further £494 was declared as expensed in taxis for 2020

Unmesh Desai, AM for Barking & Dagenham, the City of London, Newham, and Tower Hamlets, declared £1,664, including dinners and football matches.

The gifts and hospitality included attending the British Kebab Awards, three West Ham tickets worth £300 each, a Euro 2020 ticket and an NFL ticket at Tottenham Stadium worth £349, given by the Jacksonville Jaguars.

On his expenses log for 2020-2021, the AM also declared two taxis costing £120 each from City Hall to Newham and back in June 2020, both described as “travel in a safe manner to attend [the] police and crime committee at City Hall… cab with screen separation required.”

Krupesh Hirani, AM for Brent and Harrow, declared £933 in gifts and hospitality, which included a £50 bike helmet from Tier Mobility and two NFL tickets to Tottenham Stadium from the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Len Duvall OBE, AM for Greenwich and Lewisham, declared £418.25 in 2021, including tickets to cricket and lunch worth £205 from Pankaj Patel, an Indian pharmaceutical billionaire.

On his expenses log for 2020-2021, the AM also declared one taxi costing £14 from Woolwish to Lee Green in August 2020, described as a “site meeting with [a] constituent”.

Anne Clarke, AM for Barnet and Camden, declared £185 for a Euro 2020 football ticket, and Sem Moema, Hackney, Islington and Waltham Forest AM, declared £158.25 for the same.

While Leonie Cooper, AM for Merton and Wandsworth, declared £30 for a dinner from the City of London, and Dr Onkar Sahota, AM for Ealing and Hillingdon, declared on his expenses log for 2020-2021 two taxis costing £120 each from City Hall to Ealing and back in August 2020, described as “travel in a safe manner to chair [the] health committee… cab with screen separation required”.

Unmesh Desai said: “Since being elected, I have made it one of my top priorities to lobby for investment, jobs and affordable housing in my constituency as part of my ‘London Moving East’ campaign.

“To this end, I go to as many events and meetings in the community and beyond as possible to provide an insight into my work on the London Assembly and draw attention to the potential that East London has to offer and the challenges it faces.

“As declared on my register, some of these events have provided me with tickets or hospitality. As an elected representative, I will continue to ensure that there is transparency around my work on the London Assembly and how I am serving my constituents”.

GLA Lib Dems

Liberal Democrat AMs, some of whom did not declare any gifts or hospitality, declared £345 in gifts and hospitality in 2021, LondonWorld can reveal.

Hina Bokhari, Londonwide AM, declared £130 for two tickets to Hamlet at the Young Vic Theatre, from Despina Tsatsas, executive director of the Young Vic.

And Londonwide AM Caroline Pidgeon declared £215, comprised of £165 in charity donations to the London Air Ambulance and the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education for taking part in surveys, and £50 print from the Camberwell Society.