Mansfield MP responds to queries about his annual salary ahead of the upcoming East Midlands Mayor election

The Labour Party have called for Coun Ben Bradley to clarify his salary after making claims that he has not revealed his allowance as a Nottinghamshire County Councillor (NCC) on his MP register of interests since June 2021.

A spokesman from the Labour Party said: “He has also not updated his salary as leader of NCC since May 2021, despite evidence that his salary has increased by £2,000 since from £35,211 per annum to £37,274.64

“Ben Bradley is a councillor at Nottinghamshire County Council (NCC), leader of the council and the Member of Parliament for Mansfield. He has been the Conservative candidate for the East Midlands Mayor since September 2023.

"On his MP Register of Interests, Bradley declares being a councillor and leader of the council, but he has not updated his £35,211 per annum salary for the latter

since May 2021. His standard councillor allowance of £15,894.96 is not listed.

“His claimed councillor allowance has not appeared on his register of interests since June 2021. Other MPs who are also local councillors alongside their work as an MP have listed their full councillor allowance in their latest entry.”

Coun Ben Bradley said: “I've investigated this and I cannot see why this isn't on the register. It always had been prior to 2021, as I registered it in 2017, and I have never asked for it to be removed.

“I'm now making enqueries with IPSA - who administer this - as to why they removed it, because I have never asked for that to happen.

“I think the likely explanation might be that when I registered my new Allowance as Leader in 2021, they have wrongly assumed that this replaced the basic Councillor Allowance. If so then that is their error, and not something that I have instructed.

“Have been made aware of this, I have now immediately contacted them to update and correct the Register. It will be resolved imminently.

“That said, my pay has always been a matter of public record as both Parliament and the Council publish their pay and allowances schemes in full on a regular basis.

“While there appears to have been an administrative error here by IPSA, which I am investigating, this information has still always been published and in the public domain throughout, via other channels.

“If elected in May, I would immediately cease to be a Councillor or Councillor Leader. You cannot legally be a County Councillor and also the Mayor.

“I would have two roles at that stage, for a few weeks, before stepping down from Parliament.”

A spokesman from Ben Bradley’s office, said: “His allowance has never been removed from the system as the councillor entry was made ‘until further notice’.

“The entry has been updated several times since it was first registered on July 10, 2017, but it has never been removed.

“The Registrar also informed me they have moved onto a new system, so I have requested that the new system clearly shows Ben’s councillor allowance, alongside his salary as leader to avoid any further confusion.”