Rachel Reeves rented out her home without a licence
Sir Keir Starmer has ruled out an investigation into Rachel Reeves after she admitted that she rented out her family home without securing a licence.
The Chancellor referred herself to an independent ethics adviser after being made aware on Wednesday that Southwark council required her to obtain a “selective” licence to let a property.
Reeves has been renting her family home since moving to No 11 Downing Street last July, with the four-bedroom property in Dulwich let out through an agency for £3,200 a month.
A spokesperson for the Chancellor told the Daily Mail that this “was an inadvertent mistake” and she has referred herself “in the spirit of transparency”.
In a letter to the PM, Reeves said: “I sincerely apologise for this error and I would be happy to answer any questions you may have.”
Starmer said that he was satisfied that the “matter can be drawn to a close”.
This comes just days after the Renters Rights Act received royal assent to become law, and less than two months after the former housing secretary Angela Rayner resigned after she admitted to not paying enough stamp duty on a flat in Hove.
Time for a ‘full investigation’?
Whilst Keir Starmer was quick off the mark to fan the flames of another embarrassing housing decision from a government minister, opposition MPs are seizing the moment.
Kemi Badenoch has called on the PM to launch a “full investigation” into Reeves’ handling of her house rental.
The Tory leader quoted Starmer’s words to Boris Johnson in 2022 at the height of ‘partygate’: “Lawmakers can’t be lawbreakers.”
She said: “If, as it appears, the Chancellor has broken the law, then he will have to show he has the backbone to act.”
Shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel chimed in to say “Southwark Council must prosecute her for breaking the law & Starmer should sack her”.
Meanwhile, Reform policy chief Zia Yusuf pithily captioned a screenshotted post on X from the Daily Mail journalist Harriet Line with: “And another!”
And Lib Dem deputy leader Daisy Cooper said “this latest crisis needs investigating swiftly and thoroughly”.