MPs ‘failing to learn lesson’ over freebies after accepting £400,000 of hospitality

Lucy Powell, then Labour’s deputy leader and now education secretary, declared tickets to a Harry Styles concert at Wembley.
Photograph: Anthony Pham/Shutterstock

MPs have been accused of failing to learn their lesson over freebies after taking almost £400,000 of hospitality to concerts, sport matches and other events this year, with Louise Haigh, Lucy Powell and Wes Streeting among those accepting tickets.

Despite the outcry in 2024 over Keir Starmer accepting football tickets and gifts of clothing, MPs appear to have been declaring hospitality since the start of the year on a greater scale than previously seen.