Alun Cairns could be one of 30 MPs affected by proposed ban on consultancy or advising jobs

Former Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns could be among 30 MPs affected by a proposed ban on consultancy or advising jobs outside Westminster.

It is not against the rules for MPs to provide consultancy work to businesses, but the House of Commons’ standards committee plans to review regulations in the wake of the Owen Paterson lobbying scandal.

In July Nation.Cymru revealed that Alun Cairns was one of just seven MPs with three or more jobs outside Westminster.

He is a senior adviser to BBI Group, a global life science and diagnostic company, a senior adviser to private hire transport company Veezu Holdings, and an adviser to global property investment firm Elite Partners Capital Pte.

Alun Cairns currently earns up to £60,000 a year in his three jobs outside Westminster. By comparison, the average annual wage in his Vale of Glamorgan constituency was £23,971 last year – which has fallen from £25,281 since Cairns became an MP in 2010.

There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing on Alun Cairns’ part. MPs are currently permitted to work as consultants but are generally not allowed to lobby directly on behalf of the organisations they work for.

But an emergency debate on MPs’ standards on Monday morning is likely to include a suggestion that the Commons’ cross-party standards committee tightens the rules, the Guardian reported.

Changing the rules would have avoided the Owen Paterson lobbying scandal as it would have stopped him working as a paid consultant in the first place.