WORKINGTON MP Mark Jenkinson has come under fire for receiving the gift of a ticket to Ascot from the Betting and Gaming Council – and then writing an article for the Conservative Home website sponsored by the betting lobby.

Juliet Wilson, chair of Workington Labour Party, said the MP is now “a gun for hire for the bookies”.

But Mr Jenkinson insists the article was an expression of previously expressed views and its sponsorship was nothing to do with him.

Writing on Conservative Home, he said: “I consider myself an irregular, responsible gambler – with many of my constituents the same, whether it’s the football, racing or the dogs.

“I fully support the Gambling Review currently being carried out by the Government. It’s 16 years since the passing of the 2005 Gambling Act, so a fresh look at how the regulated betting and gaming industry has evolved since then is long overdue.

“However, it’s vital that ministers get the balance right between protecting the vulnerable while ensuring that the millions who enjoy a flutter safely and responsibly are able to do so without being forced into the hands of the unregulated and unsafe black market, which has none of the safer gambling measures found in the regulated industry.”

The MP declared the group's ticket and hospitality package worth £1,400 in his parliamentary declaration of interests from June 17.

Juliet Wilson said: “It’s shocking to learn that Mark Jenkinson is now a gun for hire for the bookies. He goes to Ascot and gets fed by them in style in June, then in July he’s putting his name to an article on a Conservative website saying there shouldn’t be a limit on what people spend on betting.

“The Betting and Gaming Council are well-heeled lobbyists of the kind that are all too familiar in the world of our unprincipled Government of chancers. What a disgrace.

“The modern betting industry has gone way beyond encouraging people to have a little flutter now and then on the football or at the races. People are losing hundreds and thousands with the way the industry hooks people in and sucks money they can’t afford out of them, especially working class people.

“It’s not even just the most vulnerable. People are encouraged down a slippery slope until they get desperately in need of help and protection. The whole thing needs taking in hand and Mr Jenkinson needs to knuckle down and get the Government working for his constituents here in Workington, not his mates on the Betting and Gaming Council at Ascot.

“Mr Jenkinson and the Betting and Gaming Council say people should be free to make their own choices. There’s not an awful lot of freedom left when you’ve been mugged into losing huge amounts of cash in no time because a sophisticated, high-tech industry with money to court MPs has got the better of you and of our Government.

“If our law-makers can’t be on the side of ordinary people rather than the lobbyists then they need to be thrown out, and that’s what I hope the voters of Workington will do to Mr Jenkinson at the first chance they get.”

Mr Jenkinson said: “The sponsorship is nothing to do with me, that is between the site and the BGC. I have written an article on personal freedoms which is obviously in line with many other things I have done on personal freedoms, it refers to some data and polling that the BGC have done but the sponsorship is Conservative Home's, that is nothing to do with me.

“The hospitality is declared, as is all hospitality and gifts in line with the rules of registration. All declarations are made promptly and within the time scales. But anything that went on between the BGC and Conservative home that is between them and not me.”