Alex Salmond was paid £13,500 for "newspaper columns and interviews" in the first three months of this year.

The figures for January to March were included in the former First Minister's official register of interests at Westminster.

The payments were made to Chronicles of Deer, a private company which receives his outside earnings from publishing.

Labour said that the payments showed that at a time when many families were struggling Mr Salmond was "doing very well for himself".

Mr Salmond earns £67,000 a year as an MP and donates both his MSP salary and the pension he is entitled to as a former First Minister to a north east charity.

The ex-SNP leader founded the Mary Salmond Trust in 2007 in honour of his late mother.

The register for Mr Salmond reads: "£13,500 received by Chronicles of Deer ... This related to articles and interviews in the period January to March 2015."

The register, which MPs have to keep up to date, also records that a number of new MPs, including SNP MPs, have employed family members.

SNP MP John McNally is also paid £600 a month "in rent and for working Saturday mornings" in his Barber's shop.

A Labour spokesman said of Mr Salmond: "At a time when thousands of working families are feeling the pinch the former First Minister is doing very well for himself.

"With a newspaper column on top of jobs as an MP and MSP he looks to have settled back into Westminster life very well."

A spokesperson for Mr Salmond said: "Mr Salmond has declared his interests according to the rules. He has made it clear that he will not draw two salaries, donating his MSP salary to support youth and community causes in the North East of Scotland.

"That Trust has already benefitted over 250 organisations and individuals to the tune of over £100,000."

He added that Mr Salmond had been one of the most active MPs since his return to the Commons "having spoken in the chamber on 125 occasions, more than any member bar the Prime Minister and the Leader of the House".

The records also show that show that London Mayor Boris Johnson has received an advance of £88,000 from the publisher Hodder & Stoughton for a "book as yet unwritten".

The newly elected MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip also lists £5,791.22 in May for his mayoral salary, a wage automatically cut by two-thirds to £47,000 a year as soon as he joined the House.

Mr Johnson was also paid £22,916.66 on May 13 for writing a weekly newspaper column.

Mr Salmond is entitled to an annual pension of half his salary as First Minister under Scottish Parliament rules.