Rachel Reeves inadvertently breached rules on gifts, says MPs watchdog

Chancellor Rachel Reeves inadvertently breached parliamentary rules by missing the deadline for registering gifts, the MPs’ watchdog has concluded.

In April, Reeves referred herself to the parliamentary commissioner for standards after she failed to declare tickets given to her by the National Theatre in the list of MPs’ interests within the required 28 days.

In a letter to the commissioner, Daniel Greenberg, Reeves said that “due to an oversight” she had initially only listed the donation in the register for ministers but not for MPs.

The commissioner noted Reeves’ apology for the late registration and said he would be closing his inquiry.

The investigation related to two donations made by the National Theatre in central London.

The first was for two tickets to a performance and a dinner in March 2024, valued at £265. The second was for four tickets to a performance in December 2024, valued at £276.

MPs are expected to declare gifts or benefits above the value of £300 within 28 days of receipt.

Ministers who receive gifts worth more than £140 in their ministerial capacity have to list the donation in the list of ministers’ interests.

Reeves registered the tickets from the National Theatre on the MPs’ register on 27 March 2025.

Reeves told the commissioner “the oversight which led to the late entry relates to the ambiguity around accepting hospitality which is neither clearly in my ministerial capacity nor my capacity as a Member of Parliament”.

“In general, it is likely that my ministerial position means I am offered hospitality of this kind more frequently, and in this case, as you know, my team and I initially declared the hospitality on my ministerial register only,” she said.

“In order to be maximally transparent, I subsequently took the view that it would be better to consistently record the hospitality on both registers.”

Replying to Reeves, Greenberg said he believed she had breached rule five of the MPs’ code of conduct.

“It should have been clear to you that the gift related to your membership of the House or political activities, and it should have been registered within the 28-day time limit set by the House,” he said.

“This has been a difficult decision,” he wrote but added: “I have concluded on balance that your failure was inadvertent, although greater attention to the rules could and should have avoided it.”

Replying to Greenberg, Reeves said she accepted his decision and reiterated her apology for the breach.

She added that she had put in place “more regular communication” between her Parliament and Treasury teams “to ensure information on gifts and hospitality is shared in a timely manner”.

She said she would seek “more thorough advice” from Treasury officials about ministerial gifts but added: “I am also not intending to accept further tickets of this kind going forward.”

Last summer Reeves, along with the prime minister, became embroiled in a row over accepting freebies from clothing to concert tickets.

Earlier this year, she defended accepting free tickets to a Sabrina Carpenter concert at London’s O2 arena saying: “I do now have security which means it’s not as easy as it would have been in the past to just sit in a concert.”

A few days later she told ITV she faced a “balancing act in my job to try and be a good parent” alongside security requirements.

She added: “I felt I was doing the right thing, but I do understand perceptions. I recognise the feeling here. I have no intention of doing that again.”