Downing Street will change rules on declaring interests and hospitality so ministers have to abide by the same rules as backbench MPs, a senior minister has said. Pat McFadden, the chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, said the move would be done to close “a Tory loophole” that gave less scrutiny and transparency to ministers’ interests than to those of other MPs. While such a decision had been long considered by Labour, it comes after a series of damaging stories about clothing, accommodation and tickets donated to Keir Starmer and other senior party figures while they were in opposition, and thus under the MPs’ regime.
“We will make clear going forward in the ministerial code that both ministers and shadow ministers should be under the same declaration rules,” McFadden told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme. “This was a Tory loophole, brought in so that you would have an event where the Tory minister, as it was under the last government, there, the Labour shadow opposite number would also be there, and the Tory minister would not have to declare. “That was the Tory rules, we don’t think that’s fair, so we will close that loophole so ministers and shadow ministers are treated the same going forward.” Under the register of MPs’ interests, which is updated every fortnight, backbenchers have to declare any donations or free gifts, including travel, accommodation and tickets, and provide an accurate monetary value for them. All entries must be declared within 28 days. But under changes introduced in 2015, the system is different for ministers. If they receive hospitality as part of their work, details are published by their department, but every quarter, and it does not include the value of the hospitality. This can lead to anomalies such as the culture secretary and shadow culture secretary both attending an event such as the Proms or Brit awards as part of their jobs, but only the latter having to declare the ostensible cost of this. Separately, ministers must declare any individual interests, including shareholdings, directorships, property they own or relevant interests of close family members. However, this ministerial register is updated only intermittently, with the last version published in December 2023. Additionally, the ministerial code, which sets out how this register operates, gives ministers a large degree of leeway in deciding what is relevant. For example, while the code says it is “a well established and recognised rule that no minister should accept gifts, hospitality or services from anyone which would, or might appear to, place him or her under an obligation”, it adds that this “is primarily a matter which must be left to the good sense of ministers”.