A COMMUNICATIONS company set up by a County Durham MP has been struck off after failing to file records.
Dehenna Davison set up her public relations firm, DSD22 Ltd, in September 2020, ten months after she was elected to represent Bishop Auckland.
Last year, Ms Davison started a new role presenting a Sunday morning chat on GB News, The Political Correction, with Nigel Farage.
The Register of Members' Financial Interests show she is paid £369 for four hours work a week.
Ms Davison, who previously worked as a research and development analyst for LUMO, a tax advice firm based in Annfield Plain, near Stanley, said her own company did not trade and has now been dissolved.
But, when asked by The Northern Echo, she did not respond to requests for an explanation about why it had been set up in the first place.
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Companies House, UK’s registrar of companies, which comes under the remit of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, shows the private company was incorporated in September 10, 2020.
Ms Davison, who is 28, was listed as company director and it was dissolved on February 15, this year.
The records show no accounts or confirmation statements, which are also known as annual returns, were filed in that period.
Private companies are obliged to pay £13 to file a confirmation statement online each year.
Failure to do so is a criminal offence and people who breach the rules persistently can be fined up to £5,000 and be struck off.
Companies House has said it does not comment on individual cases.
Ms Davison told The Echo: “The company didn’t trade, and I’m in conversation with Companies House to ensure it is dissolved fully and all records are up to date.”
Meanwhile, it is understood plans to limit MPs’ earnings from second jobs in the wake of the sleaze scandal that engulfed the Government late last year have now been abandoned.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged to clamp down on second jobs after the Owen Paterson lobbying scandal and it emerged Geoffrey Cox has been paid nearly £6 million as a lawyer since becoming an MP.
Ministers reportedly told the Commons standards committee that a time limit or cap on outside earnings would be “impractical”.
Responding to the revelations about Ms Davison’s company, first published by the Daily Mirror, Labour chairperson Anneliese Dodds said: “Boris Johnson has broken his promise to cap MPs’ earnings from second jobs and we’ve now got a Tory MP failing to fulfil directorship minimum requirements.
“The PM needs to ensure his MPs are focused on the day job.”
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