Labour MP Catherine Atkinson says she will use about £5,000 paid to her by the Mail on Sunday (MoS) to support state-educated students. Atkinson says the funding will go towards local scholarships for law students at the University of Derby who attended state schools.
Atkinson frames the payment as connected to an MoS story that she says falsely accused her of concealing that she attended a private school. She says the newspaper was threatened with legal action and subsequently made a payout. The Guardian reports Atkinson will donate the proceeds to the scholarship fund, tying the money to the experiences she says she shared with recipients.
Other coverage is not provided here, but the central points across the available source are that an MoS payout is involved, Atkinson publicly commits the funds to scholarships, and the dispute relates to allegations about her education background and the legal pressure surrounding the newspaper’s reporting.
