Minister appears to criticise Chancellor over Sabrina Carpenter freebie

A Government minister appeared to take a swipe at Rachel Reeves’ acceptance of free tickets to a Sabrina Carpenter concert at the O2 arena, saying he would pay for his own attendance at shows.

Matthew Pennycook said he does not “personally think it’s appropriate” to take a hospitality offering to gigs at the venue, which is in his constituency of Greenwich and Woolwich.

The Chancellor had faced criticism over her decision to take free tickets to the show ahead of imposing cuts to spending, including the benefits bill, as she seeks to balance the books.

She has cited security as her reason for accepting the hospitality, for herself and a family member, and said she would declare their value to parliamentary authorities.

“I’ll pay for it”

Asked about the row on Tuesday, housing minister Mr 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.”

It comes after Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said she was too busy to attend concerts, telling Times Radio she had to “prioritise my time” and “haven’t taken any tickets, to be honest, since I was elected in (July)”.

Sir Keir Starmer appeared to back the Chancellor, with Downing Street saying the Prime Minister “supports all of his ministers making their own judgments” in relation to accepting hospitality within ministerial rules.

Ms Reeves is paid £67,505 as Chancellor on top of her £91,346 MP’s salary and previously said she would not accept clothing from donors after revelations that she had received £7,500 worth of clothes in opposition.

Row

The so-called “freebies” row, which engulfed Sir Keir’s top team after their election win last year, saw the Prime Minister announcing he would repay the costs of some gifts he received.

However, the Prime Minister defended his acceptance of corporate hospitality from Arsenal football club, citing security as his reason for doing so, similar to Ms Reeves.

He also tightened hospitality rules for ministers to ensure better transparency about what was being donated following the backlash.

The new code introduced last year did not ban ministers from accepting donations but does now require them to consider the “need to maintain the public’s confidence”.