Suspended MPs set to pocket up to £66,000 each for hanging on until General Election

Suspended MPs are set to be handed up to £66,000 of taxpayers cash each for hanging on to their seats until the General Election.

Seven MPs - most recently ex-Tory Mark Menzies - have been booted from their parties over allegations of misconduct and are set to step down, but vowed to hang on until this year’s General Election.

Between them they’re in line for payouts worth a combined £323,000 when Rishi Sunak calls the election.

Clinging on to their seats until parliament is dissolved makes them eligible for a “loss of office” payment - worth double the level of statutory redundancy.

They’re also entitled to a “winding up” payment of four months of their £84,000 salary.

For an MP who has been in office for more than 20 years, it amounts to £66,580.

MPs who quit and trigger by-elections are not eligible for such payments.

And the cost could be even higher - a further eleven suspended MPs could be in line for payouts if they choose to step down when the election’s called, or lose their seats.

It could bring the total to almost £900,000.

Among the MPs in line for bumper payouts despite being booted out of their party group is former Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who lost the whip in 2022 after choosing to appear on I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here while Parliament was sitting.

He’s remained an “independent” MP, but still sits with former Tory colleagues on the Commons back benches. He’s set to pocket an estimated £46,000 in severance and winding up payments.

Mr Menzies was allowed to resign the Tory whip while he was investigated over allegations he’d misused party funds.

It followed claims he’d called an aide in the middle of the night, begging her to transfer him cash because he had been locked in a flat by some “bad men”.

He denied breaking the rules, and the party said it could not conclude there had been misuse of funds. Mr Menzies announced he would be stepping down as an MP - but not until the election.

As a result, he’s also in line for an estimated £46,000.

Former Labour MP Nick Brown quit the Labour party during a long-running disciplinary process following an undisclosed complaint against him. He said he’d step down after 41 years at the next election, and so is in line for the largest possible payout, an estimated £66,580.

Mr Brown strongly denies the allegations against him.

Tory MP William Wragg had already announced his intention to step down at the election when he gave up the Tory whip after being caught up in the Westminster honeytrap scandal earlier this month (APR).

He’s in line for an estimated £39,574.

Former Tory Julian Knight, who is suspended from the Tories over undisclosed “complaints” against him, is in line for an estimated £39,574 payout.

And Ex-Tory Bob Stewart is set to trouser an estimated £46,000. He remains suspended, after being convicted of a racially aggravated public order offence.

The conviction was overturned on appeal in February, but the Conservative Party said he remained suspended.