The Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has landed herself in hot water after failing to declare free theatre tickets on time — and now she’s under investigation by Parliament’s standards watchdog, reported the Independent.
Reeves and three of her family members attended a National Theatre production — thought to be the children’s show Ballet Shoes — on December 27 last year. But the tickets, worth about £276, weren’t declared in the MPs’ register of interests until March 27, well beyond the 28-day window MPs are given to report financial perks.
She has reportedly referred herself to Daniel Greenberg, the parliamentary commissioner for standards, over the delay. While the tickets were included in the official ministerial hospitality register for December, which came out in January, they weren’t recorded in the MP register until months later.
Sources say the delay was simply a clerical oversight. Still, that hasn’t stopped the Standards Commissioner from launching a formal probe, which began on April 29, into whether Reeves breached paragraph 5 of the Commons’ Code of Conduct. A spokesperson for Reeves brushed off the concerns, saying, “The Chancellor’s interests are fully declared and up to date.”
But this isn’t the first time Reeves has faced awkward questions over freebies. Just last month, she promised to steer clear of accepting free concert tickets after being called out for attending a Sabrina Carpenter gig at the O2 Arena with a family member, all without dipping into her wallet.
She told Good Morning Britain she wouldn’t be repeating that choice anytime soon. “I wouldn’t do it again, I felt I was doing the right thing, but I do understand perceptions,” Reeves explained. “I’m not intending to take concert tickets in the future. But you know, it is a balancing act in my job to try and be a good parent and also do my job with some of the security challenges that I face.”
Her defence leaned on the challenges of juggling family life with public responsibilities, especially when security is involved. But for critics, it’s another example of an MP getting too comfortable with perks — and forgetting the rules that go with them.
With the general election cycle looming and public trust in politicians already wobbly, this kind of slip-up, however small, isn’t likely to go unnoticed.
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