Starmer, Reeves and Rayner will no longer accept donations for clothes, ITV News understands

The prime minister has accepted around £39,000 from Lord Alli since December 2019, as ITV News' Anushka Asthana explains


Sir Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves will no longer accept donations to pay for their clothes, ITV News understands.

The prime minister faced calls for an investigation after allegedly breaking parliamentary rules by failing to declare donations of clothing for his wife.

The gifts for Victoria Starmer from prominent Labour donor Lord Alli were not initially declared in the register of MPs' interests.

MPs are required to register gifts and donations within 28 days.

Starmer has accepted around £39,000 from Lord Alli since December 2019.

The Financial Times has reported that donations "in kind" to Rayner and Reeves, listed in their registers of interests, were also for clothing.

Rayner received clothing funding from Lord Alli, while Juliet Rosenfield provided funds for the Chancellor’s wardrobe, the FT said.

The latest controversy over donations comes as the Labour Party heads to Liverpool for its first annual conference since winning the general election in July.

Starmer maintains he has followed all the rules on accepting donations.

He also came under fire for accepting free corporate box tickets, worth thousands of pounds, at Arsenal's Emirates Stadium.


Sir Keir Starmer told ITV News London's Simon Harris that he'd rather be in the stands but security costs are too high as he defends his Arsenal corporate box freebie


He told ITV News on Thursday: "I've had season tickets at Arsenal for a long time now, where I've gone with my boy and my friends for year after year after year."

But he explained: "Now I'm prime minister the security advice is that I can't go into the stands. Or if I did you'd have to put so much sort of security in that it would cost the taxpayer a fortune."

The Guardian reported he has received more than £100,000 worth of football tickets, concert tickets, clothes and spectacles.

Starmer's register of interests reveals that most of his football tickets were provided by individual clubs or the Premier League.


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However, investment firm Cain International covered his ticket cost at a Chelsea game, and Teescraft Engineering, based in Bishop Auckland, paid for his ticket to a match against Newcastle.

He is not the only MP to have received freebies in the past year.

More than 70 current MPs from various parties have declared free tickets to sporting events in their registers of interests.

Responding to the latest on the row, a Conservative Party spokesperson said: “Nothing Labour say will change the fact that Keir Starmer and his top team have accepted thousands of pounds in freebie clothes whilst simultaneously consigning 10 million pensioners to a cold and hard winter.

“And not only have they loaded up on freebies whilst lecturing the public about integrity, morality, and tough choices – they also appear to have continuously failed to properly register these crony gifts.

“The British public are no fools though, and can see Labour for what they truly are – pure hypocrites.”

The SNP’s work and pensions spokesperson Kirsty Blackman said: “Voters were promised change but instead the Labour Party is copying the worst excesses of the Tories on sleaze, austerity cuts, and cronyism. It’s no wonder they are plummeting in the polls.”


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