Chancellor Rachel Reeves has justified her acceptance of free tickets to a Sabrina Carpenter concert, indicating that security concerns complicate attendance logistics. She emphasized her commitment to declaring any received gifts, following heightened scrutiny in the wake of backlash against Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and other ministers over gift acceptance. Starmer had returned substantial gifts, including Taylor Swift tickets, and invoked security needs when accepting corporate hospitality. The government now mandates ministers to prioritize public confidence when considering gifts, although these remain permissible under certain conditions.
"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."
"There wasn't a price to those tickets," she said, as she underlined she would declare the value of them.
The new rules introduced last year did not ban ministers from accepting donations but do now require them to consider the 'need to maintain the public's confidence.'
The prime minister did defend his acceptance of corporate hospitality from the Arsenal football club in September citing security as his reason for doing so.
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