A VETERAN MP has defended his and other parliamentary members’ rights to hold second jobs.

Frank Cook said he had no problem with MPs having paid outside interests as long as they were "properly held and exercised".

The Labour MP, who represents Stockton North, earns up to £10,000 a year as a parliamentary advisor on environmental issues to the firm DSM Demolition Ltd.

Amid the continuing scandal over MPs expenses, attention has recently switched to how much members earn outside Parliament and how much time they spend on non-Parliamentary duties.

This week Newcastle North MP Doug Henderson, a former Europe and Armed Forces Minister, confirmed he had been paid £100,000 over the past four years for working as an advisor to fast food firm McDonalds.

Asked whether it was right that MPs should have paid outside interests, Mr Cook said: "As long as it is responsible and does not impinge on their Parliamentary duties."

The MP, who said he operated in "accordance with the rules", could not confirm exactly how much time he spent as an advisor to Birmingham based DSM, merely stating it varied according to the demands placed on him.

All MPs have to include details of their outside interests on the House of Commons Register of Members’ Interests, which is published and freely available.

But from July they will also have to declare the details of the pay and hours of any posts they may hold, although many already include details of their remuneration.

Only a small number of MPs from this region have what could be described as second jobs, with the vast majority declaring no outside interests at all.

Among those that do, Government chief whip and North West Durham MP Hilary Armstrong receives up to £35,000 a year to chair the advisory committee of recycling and resource management company Sita UK, a position she took in September last year.

She has also received £5,000 as a member of the advisory board of GovNet Communications, a public sector publisher and events organiser.

Tory MP John Greenway, who represents Ryedale in North Yorkshire, also holds various paid posts, including the President of the Institute of Insurance Brokers, for which he receives up to £15,000, and as a consultant for bookmakers the Tote, for which he receives up to £10,000.

Earlier this month Richmond MP William Hague, the Conservative Party’s Shadow Foreign Secretary, said he would get rid of all his outside interests by September in order to concentrate on the next General Election.

Mr Hague, who has reportedly earned between £3m and £4m from outside interests since 2001, receives up to £50,000 as a Parliamentary advisor to the JCB group and up to £20,000 as a member of the Political Council of private equity investment firm Terra Firma Capital Partners.

He has also earned hundreds of thousands of pounds from the lucrative after dinner speaking circuit.