Seven of Kingston's standing councillors are running as parliamentary candidates in constituencies outside of the borough.

The group includes five Lib Dem councillors, one Conservative, and the Leader of the Opposition, James Giles.

Mr Giles, a Kingston Independent Residents Group councillor, is running as a Workers Party of Britain candidate in Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North: the only in the group to be running as an MP under a different political party.

Mr Giles confirmed in a tweet that he would step down as councillor if he became an MP.

A second Kingston Independent Residents Group councillor, Yvonne Tracey, is up for election locally, running in Kingston & Surbiton constituency.

Altogether, the group of seven councillors were collectively paid nearly £103,000 over the 2022/23 financial year – 14 per cent of Kingston Council's spend on allowances.

The three highest earners were Conservative Rowena Bass (£28,325), and Lib Dems John Sweeney (£21,731) and Sabah Hamed (£19,059).

Councillors are able to claim allowances to help facilitate their work, starting from a basic rate of £7,719, but those with additional responsibilities can claim more. Kingston Council's highest allowance is £50,126, given to leader Andrew Kirsch.

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The full list of the councillors, where they are running, and under which party, is as follows:

• John Sweeney (Lib Dem, Derby North)
• Kamala Kugan (Lib Dem, Stalybridge and Hyde)
• Mike Massimi (Lib Dem, Coventry East)
• Mark Durrant (Lib Dem, Chipping Barnet)
• Sabah Hamed (Lib Dem, Birmingham Perry Barr)
• Rowena Bass (Conservative, Bootle)
• James Giles (Workers Party, Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North)

The full list of councillor allowances in 2022/23 is available on Kingston Council's website here.