Outside work will be scrutinised to ensure that MPs dedicate a majority of their working week to parliament in proposals which have been sent to the commissioner for standards and seen by the Guardian.

Those who are paid to lobby for outside interests – including those who work full-time for unions or charities – will be asked to drop their second jobs, according to the proposed code.

Twenty MPs declare more than £100,000 from second jobs
The change in the rules, which are still to be approved by MPs, could cut the amount of time MPs will be allowed to spend away from their constituents.

Until now, there have been no regulation of MPs doing other jobs apart from a general requirement to register income received from outside sources and to declare a conflict of interest.

Tommy Sheppard, the SNP member of the standards committee, has written to Kathryn Hudson, the parliamentary commissioner for standards, suggesting major changes.

He argued that there should be a ceiling on the amount of additional work an MP can take and this could be measured either by the year or by the week. …

… It comes after a study last year from Transparency International found that scores of MPs were being paid millions of pounds a year for outside jobs. The research found that 73 MPs, who are paid £74,962 per annum, also received £3.4m in the previous 12 months for “external advisory roles”, including in some cases board positions.