Calls for Conservative Lewes MP to return severance pay out of almost £8,000

Earlier this month Caulfield also voted to block measures to clamp down on severance payments for government ministers. Two other Conservative health ministers - Steve Barclay and Edward Argar - chose to return the payoffs under similar circumstances in 2022.

Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for Lewes, James MacCleary, said: "I am calling on Maria Caulfield to either return the payment or donate it to local food banks. I'm sure that many would see this as a real slap in the face when they are struggling to make ends meet as a result of government policy backed by Ms Caulfield. We deserve so much better.

"I talk to local people every week about the struggles they are facing accessing basic NHS services, managing rising costs for food and energy, and feeling anxious about their family's future. Maria Caulfield seems to be less interested in helping them and more interested in helping herself."

Mari Caulfield MP said: “I was paid redundancy when I lost my job as a minister, as is the case for all ministers who are sacked. As constituents know I have always given my annual pay rise to local charities since becoming a MP, the details of which I publish on my website annually. I have never taken a penny in personal expenses for travel or accommodation and do not have a second home”

Outgoing ministers under 65 are entitled to severance payments equivalent to one quarter of their annual salary, but those who return before three weeks are not eligible. Ministers receive the pay out regardless of how long they have served in a government position or the circumstances in which they left.

Labour used an Opposition Day Debate on February 6 to try to reform this system, but they were stopped by 275 votes to 192. The party’s motion proposed that outgoing ministers would only be able to claim a quarter of their actual earnings over the previous 12 months. Individuals who returned as ministers would have had their payments slashed and those brought down by scandal would have received nothing at all.