'If I want to go to a gig I'll pay for it': Minister condemns Rachel Reeves over 'inappropriate' freebie tickets to see Sabrina Carpenter at the O2
Proper news from Britain - News from Britain you won’t find anywhere else. Not the tosh the big media force-feed you every day!
Rachel Reeves faced a battering from another Labour minister today over her Sabrina Carpenter freebie.
Housing minister Matthew Pennycook said it was 'inappropriate' to take free tickets to gigs, insisting: 'If I want to go to a concert at the O2 I'll pay for it.'
The extraordinary attack on his colleague came after the Chancellor defended accepting the £600 gift for her and a 'family member', pointing to security issues.
However, support for embattled Ms Reeves from within government has been distinctly muted.
Yesterday Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander effectively cut her fellow Cabinet minister adrift saying she did not have 'anything further to add' and stressing she had not taken any tickets personally.
Downing Street also gave a lukewarm endorsement saying the PM 'supports all of his ministers making their own judgments' over hospitality.
Matthew Pennycook told LBC: 'I don't personally think it's appropriate. If I want to go to a concert at the O2 I'll pay for it.
'But individual MPs, individual ministers make their own decisions. I think that the important thing is that everything is declared and above board, so individual people can make their choices as to whether they think it's appropriate to take tickets on occasions.
'I personally haven't done, as I said, at the O2, and wouldn't do.'
Asked on Times Radio yesterday if Ms Reeves' freebie 'felt right', Ms Alexander said: 'I haven't taken any tickets to be honest since I was elected back in June as a new member of parliament and going straight into the Ministry of Justice and then coming straight into the Department for Transport.
'I actually sadly haven't been to see any concerts at all over the last nine months, partly because I've been very very busy.'
Pressed on whether she would ever take tickets, Ms Alexander said: 'I have never, as a member of parliament, I have never accepted tickets to any concerts or anything like that.'
The concert tickets revelation came as Ms Reeves confirmed she will cut Whitehall running costs by 15 per cent, which could result in the loss of 10,000 civil service jobs.
It risked reviving the anger that erupted last year when it emerged the Prime Minister and his Cabinet were enjoying lavish freebies including clothing and concert tickets.
Ms Reeves was last year forced to vow not to accept any clothing as Chancellor after it was revealed she had taken £7,500 for outfits while in opposition.
Sir Keir Starmer, who received £32,000 for clothes from Labour donor Lord Alli, had to pay back thousands of pounds in gifts, including tickets to see Taylor Swift.
Ms Reeves cited security grounds when asked about the freebie on Sunday, claiming she could not sit with other fans because she requires close protection as a senior minister.
'I do now have security which means it's not as easy as it would've been in the past to just sit in a concert, although that would probably be a lot easier for everyone concerned,' Ms Reeves told the BBC.
Asked if she paid for the tickets, she replied: 'Obviously I'll declare the value of them, but they weren't tickets that you were able to buy.'
Mish Rahman, a member of Labour's ruling National Executive Committee until last year, branded the Chancellor 'Scrounger Reeves', asking how she could justify her free tickets as her fiscal rules hit 'the most vulnerable'.
Labour MP Rachael Maskell told the Mail it was 'indefensible' that Ms Reeves – who is paid about £160,000 a year – accepted the free tickets.
She said: 'Those who live in poverty will rightly question, as they struggle to get by, why those who are cutting their lifeline are in receipt of handouts. Not to recognise the inequity in this goes to the heart of the problem.'
Labour peer Lord Sikka added: 'Cleansing British politics is a necessary condition for building a good society. That requires criminalising the receiving and giving of all political donations in any form.'
Shadow Cabinet Office minister Mike Wood said: 'It is shocking that Rachel Reeves has been partying in a VIP box at a pop concert, as families across the country suffer the consequences of her economically illiterate decisions.
'Keir Starmer told the country that his Government's addiction to freebies was over, and now his Chancellor is having to defend taking yet another freebie.
'Reeves should be focusing on undoing the damage she's done to the economy ahead of her emergency Budget rather than living it up in a VIP box.'
Sir Keir was also among a slew of top politicians to receive free tickets and hospitality to Taylor Swift's gigs in London last summer.
He later paid back more than £6,000 worth of gifts and vowed - together with Deputy PM Angela Rayner and Ms Reeves - not to accept any further donations for clothing.
Sir Keir has continued to accept box tickets to Arsenal football games after being told he can't sit in the stands with regular fans due to security concerns.
The PM has been a long-time season ticket holder at the north London club.
