Donations a ‘feature of our politics’, Angela Rayner tells BBC amid gifts row

Donations to MPs are “a feature of our politics”, Angela Rayner has insisted amid a row over Labour politicians accepting gifts and freebies.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer had come in for criticism in the past week over accepting more than £100,000-worth of gifts, including tickets to football matches, concerts and luxury clothes.

But he, Rayner and Chancellor Rachel Reeves have now said they will no longer accept donations in the future to pay for clothes.

The deputy prime minister spoke to the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, where she stressed the importance of “transparency” when MPs receive donations and gifts.

Rayner, speaking ahead of the opening of the Labour Party conference in Liverpool, said she understood why people were angry, but added donations were “a feature of our politics”.

She said: “I get that people are frustrated, in particular the circumstances that we’re in, but donations for gifts and hospitality and monetary donations have been a feature of our politics for a very long time.

“People can look it up and see what people have had donations for, and the transparency is really important.”

The deputy PM argued that donations were relied upon to fund leadership campaigns – including the current Conservative leadership race.

She added: “I get that people are angry, I get that people are upset. I think the transparency is there so people can see that. 

“Now, if there is a national debate about how we fund politics and how we do that, and I hear that people are frustrated with that, but we have a system at the moment that says if you get donations, that has to be declared and the rules have to apply to everybody.

“I think that is correct so people can see where you’ve had donations and where that potential influence is so that people can see the transparency.”

It came as Rayner denied breaking Commons rules over declaring a stay in a New York flat owned by Labour donor Lord Waheed Alli.

The Sunday Times reported that Rayner stayed in Lord Alli’s flat with Sam Tarry, then the Labour MP for Ilford South, last December.

“I don’t believe I broke any rules,” she stressed to Kuenssberg. “I had the use of the apartment and I disclosed that I had the use of the apartment.

“In fact, I think I was overly transparent because I think it was important despite it being a personal holiday because that person, as a friend, had already donated to me in the past for my deputy leadership.”