A Labour MP has apologised and referred himself to the standards commissioner after promoting a company in the Commons without declaring it had given him a £10,000 donation.
Steve Yemm, the Labour MP for Mansfield, spoke in a debate about construction standards last month and praised the electrical utility company Power Saving Solutions as “a company that is enabling reduced reliance on diesel-generated power on building sites”.
Yemm cited Power Saving Solutions and the construction company JCB as “two great examples of private-sector firms enfranchising themselves in our mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower”.
He had received a £10,000 donation from Power Saving Solutions in April last year but did not mention this in his speech. The MP’s code of conduct states: “Members must declare any relevant interests when speaking in the house.”
In a statement, Yemm said: “I fully apologise for not declaring this interest prior to referencing the work of this company located in my constituency. I have made contact with the parliamentary standards commissioner and will formally correct the record at the earliest opportunity.” He said he had no personal connection with the firm.
Rose Whiffen, a senior research officer for Transparency International UK, said: “When parliamentarians accept funding from private companies, they must scrupulously avoid the perception that the donor gets anything in return. MPs should ensure that everything they do in the Houses of Parliament is in the public interest. They must also declare all relevant private interests so that their decision-making is fully transparent for us all.”
Yemm was first elected in July 2024, winning back Mansfield from the former Conservative MP Ben Bradley with a majority of nearly 3,500. Bradley had won Mansfield in 2017, a result that foreshadowed the Conservatives’ strong performance across the various “red wall” seats in Labour’s former industrial heartlands two years later.
Yemm was selected as Labour’s candidate for Mansfield in the spring of 2023, having previously worked in a management role for a life sciences software company. He was chair of the Mansfield constituency Labour party between 2008 and 2017 and ran to be mayor in 2011.
In the run-up to the general election last summer, Yemm received donations from Unison and the thinktank Labour Together. He has also received support from Unite and GMB.
During the debate on construction standards on 25 March, Yemm praised work carried out by Mansfield district council to build new homes in his constituency, including through a £7.7m development scheme. He said it was important “councils and housebuilders look to British industry for solutions in construction”.
Other issues he has addressed in the Commons since being elected include antisocial behaviour, apprenticeships and the war in Gaza.
