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Angela Rayner has said that pocketing £105,000 delivering speeches does not count as a second job - despite her own voters earning just £692 a week.
Ms Rayner took home the staggering sum in speaking fees as a backbencher across the course of six months, the register of MPs interests revealed.
The Ashton-under-Lyne MP said: "I was focusing on my constituents during that time, and you'll have seen from the [register of] members' interests, there was, I think around six engagements in 12 months for a couple of hours of speaking engagements. And that's all declared appropriately."
Ms Rayner delivered seven speeches between February and June.
One of the speeches Ms Rayner delivered was for estate agent body PropertyMark in June, earning £20,000 for a two-hour appearance, after stepping down from Government for failing to pay stamp duty on her home.
The MP also pocketed £19,000 for a speech with the Management Consultancies Association as well as a £20,000 speech for Deutsche Bank.
There, she was able to enjoy a £1,000 hotel room alongside a £250 dinner.
Meanwhile, her constituents take home £692 on average each week, House of Commons figures show, lower than the regional average of £735.
Ms Rayner explained she does not believe the extra income to count as a second job, adding that she was "honoured" to return to the frontbench - despite no longer being able to charge for speeches.
In Opposition, the now-Housing Minister was exceedingly outspoken on the matter, declaring that MPs should be banned from the "racket" of second jobs altogether.
But Ms Rayner's year away from Cabinet also proved even more lucrative, earning £61,500 for an advance on a book and almost £17,000 in the severance payment.
Upon her return to Government, she refused to hand back the lump sum, sparking furious backlash.
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Ms Rayner's take-home sum would be added to her standard annual MP salary, which rose to £98,599 in April.
Last month, Reform UK chairman Lee Anderson said: "Angela Rayner has had an extremely profitable year off. Being forced to resign in disgrace over your tax affairs turns out to be a good little earner.
"Now she’s waltzed straight back into her old job in government just 10 months after resigning," he fumed, speaking to The Telegraph.
"It’s about time she handed back her hefty severance payment. Taxpayer cash shouldn’t be wasted on subsidising Labour’s political psychodramas."
In Labour's 2024 manifesto, the party called for an immediate ban on most second jobs for MPs, including those "who spend more time on their second job, or lobbying for outside interests, than on representing them".
"Therefore, as an initial step, Labour will support an immediate ban on MPs from taking up paid advisory or consultancy roles," they said.
"We will task the Modernisation Committee to take forward urgent work on the restrictions that need to be put in place to prevent MPs from taking up roles that stop them serving their constituents and the country."
