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The UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has issued tighter rules surrounding gifts and hospitality given to government ministers, following a recent controversy involving Labour officials receiving gifts from donors. While ministers will still be allowed to receive gifts, the ministerial code will now require them to consider the “need to maintain the public’s confidence in the standards of propriety” before doing so. Additionally, a monthly list recording all gifts given to ministers will be published, replacing the previous quarterly report. Critics have hit out at Sir Keir since his election in July for accepting gifts from wealthy donors, prompting the stricter new rules, which state that ministers should not accept gifts likely to “compromise their judgement or place them under an obligation to people or organisations that might try inappropriately to influence their work in government.”
The updated code acknowledges that in certain cases, ministers may need to attend events where gifts and hospitality may be offered, but they maintain a responsibility to represent the government in such situations. Ministers are also required to record all gifts given to others on the same register, and the monthly report will note all gifts received worth over £140, along with the details of any hospitality received. Meanwhile, the latest list of ministers’ interests has revealed Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his family are renting out the family home in north London. This is not the first time a UK prime minister has done so; for example, David Cameron rented out his family home to tenants while he resided at Downing Street.
Sir Laurie Magnus, the prime minister’s independent ministerial standards adviser, has gained power to initiate investigations into alleged breaches of the ministerial code without first gaining the consent of the prime minister. In the past, the PM was able to veto inquiries from the adviser itself, however this change was highlighted in Labour’s pre-election manifesto. While Sir Laurie conducts investigations and offers guidelines on adherence to the code, the final decision on whether the code was breached and any appropriate punishments will be left to Sir Keir. Sir Keir has released a forward to the newly-updated ministerial code, stating that British citizens have a right to expect high standards of public service from their government. He said the updated code “sets out the higher standards that the British people expect and that ministers must now follow”, implying that the code was created to foster transparency and trust in UK governance
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