Labour to tighten ministerial hospitality declaration rules

The government is to tighten transparency rules for ministerial hospitality, after a row over freebies received by Labour ministers.

Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden told the BBC ministers would now have to declare hospitality linked to their government job in their MP’s register too.

This information is currently published by departments, but less frequently and without a requirement to specify the value.

It follows weeks of headlines about gifts received by Sir Keir Starmer and other top ministers from major Labour donor Lord Alli.

The criticism was cited by MP Rosie Duffied, who announced she would be quitting Labour on Saturday, saying the party leadership seemed “more about greed and power than making a difference”.

MPs currently have to declare gifts and hospitality worth more than £300 if it could be considered part of their “parliamentary or political activities”.

They have to list such gifts in parliamentary transparency records within 28 days, stating the donor and the estimated value. The records are republished fortnightly when Parliament is sitting.

But under a rule introduced under David Cameron, ministers can declare hospitality linked to their government job in their departmental declarations, published every three months, where an estimated value is not required.

The discrepancy was highlighted in 2022, when Dame Priti Patel registered tickets to a James Bond premiere in her departmental record, but not her MP’s register, with a fellow minister arguing her attendance was linked to her ministerial role.

Speaking to Laura Kuenssberg, McFadden said the situation had created an “imbalance in the rules,” creating different transparency duties for ministers and shadow ministers attending the same events.

He added that the “loophole” would be closed in a forthcoming update to the ministerial rulebook.

The suggested tweak would not change the type of hospitality ministers can accept, but would change how it has to be declared.

The pledge to increase transparency follows weeks of headlines about clothes, tickets, and accommodation accepted by ministers.

The prime minister, chancellor and deputy prime minister have promised not to accept any more donated clothing, following criticism after it emerged they had received work clothes worth thousands of pounds from donors.

It has emerged that Sir Keir originally declared £16,000 of these clothes as money for his “private office”, which will be recategorised. He also initially failed to declare thousands of pounds in clothes for his wife Victoria.

Sir Keir has also defended staying in Lord Alli’s flat during the election campaign, which he declared as a gift worth £20,000, saying it was to help his son study effectively for his GCSE exams.

The donations have raised questions about the TV executive’s closeness to Sir Keir, but McFadden insisted the Labour peer was not looking to influence the government, adding there was “no policy quid pro quo here”.

He also said it was acceptable for the prime minister to accept free clothes, adding that “presentation” was a part of political campaigning.

The current version of the MPs’ register covers gifts and hospitality received until early August, roughly covering Labour’s first month in power since the party’s landslide election victory in July.

Hospitality received by MPs after this date is yet to be published, with the next update due later this month.

The Labour government is yet to publish its first list of ministers’ interests, with the first version of the document expected later this year.