Do you assume MPs ought to be allowed to just accept freebies – vote in our ballot
Keir Starmer has been slammed for accepting £65,978 worth of gifts since June last year, including accommodation and clothes, but do YOU think MPs should be allowed to accept freebies?
The Prime Minister has since defended his intentions for accepting £20,000 in donations for accommodation, stating that his son needed somewhere to revise for his GCSEs amid his manic General Election campaign. Mr Starmer claimed that the transition to Downing Street had been “really difficult” for his two children, adding that the sum he had declared from donor Lord Waheed Alli for unspecified accommodation allowed his son to revise in a “peaceful” atmosphere.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said: “We have lots of journalists outside our house where we live and I’m not complaining about that, that’s fine. But if you’re a 16-year-old trying to do your GCSEs and it’s your one chance in life – I promised him we would move somewhere, get out of the house and go somewhere where he could be peacefully studying. Somebody then offered me accommodation where we could do that. I took that up and it was the right thing to do.”
The Labour leader is at the centre of a freebies row for accepting thousands of gifts from Lord Alli, including eyewear and work clothing worth £18,000, clothes for his wife Lady Victoria Starmer, and £10,000 donation to Sue Gray’s son Liam Conlon’s campaign to become a Labour MP.
While Keir has insisted that parliamentary rules were followed, the PM, Rachel Reeves and Angela Rayner have all said they will not accept any more free clothes from donors following the backlash. Speaking to BBC Breakfast on the decision, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said: “People are really struggling in this country and we don’t want people to believe that we are living very different lives from them.”
She said the move was to show that the government’s priorities aligned with the public and highlight that the party are “ordinary people who want to make people’s lives better”. Deputy PM Rayner voiced that while she understands the negative response to the freebies, she highlighted that a complete stop of gifts would require a wider debate about how politics is funded.
She said: “I get that people are frustrated, in particular the circumstances that we’re in, but donations for gifts and hospitality and monetary donations have been a feature of our politics for a very long time.” The frustration comes after the PM and Chancellor announced a roll-back on the winter fuel allowance impacting 10 million pensioners.
Speaking on The Division Bell podcast, The Mirror’s Lizzy Buchan said: “I do think that Labour needs to be careful here, because even if the rules are being followed…there is still an issue of perception here. We’re also looking down the barrel of a really tough winter, tough budget.
“There is a perception issue about saying, ‘okay, you know, we are going to make the vulnerable and the hard-pressed pay more, life is going to be hard, everyone’s got to tighten their belts.’ But [simultaneously] there’s all sorts of perks for people in government.” Following the backlash, we want to know if YOU think MPs should be allowed to accept freebies? Vote in our poll HERE to have your say.
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