COPELAND'S MP has refused to reveal why she received a £12,000 donation from a West End club and a company run by a billionaire.

Trudy Harrison recorded the two separate donations on her Declaration of Interests, as per Parliamentary procedure.

But she has declined to explain why those donations were made to her and how her constituents might benefit from them.

A £7,000 donation was made to her by the Cayzer Trust and a £5,000 one from the Carlton Club.

One of the directors of the Cayzer Trust, a private limited company based in London, is British billionaire Charles William Cayzer.

The donation is registered as "support linked to an MP but received by a local party organisation or indirectly

via a central party organisation" on the Parliament's website.

The £5,000 donation from the members-only Carlton Club is registered as "support linked to an MP."

Both were registered on January 11.

Labour's Tony Lywood, who stood against Tory Mrs Harrison at December's election, said: "It's great to see transparency among MPs, but what connection does Mrs Harrison have to a billionaire financier?

"The Carlton Club is a club for the elite, we meet at the P&R Club on Greenbank, which is somewhat less fancy. It rather shows the connections the Conservative Party has."

Mrs Harrison also registered two visits abroad.

One was a £7,419.50 trip to China to visit a nuclear reactor and one of £4,771.61 for a visit to San Francisco, where she met with the trade embassy and tech companies to learn about the future skills needs.

Mrs Harrison said: "International visits are a vital part of any MP's work, both foreign visits last year were funded by private companies, in-line with Parliamentary guidance and were recorded publicly in the Declaration of Interests.

"I am grateful to those who fund visits and to the organisers as I understand the huge amount of work required."