No 10 refuses to say if ethics adviser saw proof Reeves’s rental breach was ‘inadvertent’

A No 10 spokesperson declined to say whether Rachel Reeves’s actions were considered a breach of the ministerial code, or if she might have broken the law. Photograph: Jordan Pettitt/PA

Downing Street has refused to say whether Keir Starmer’s adviser on ministerial conduct has seen any evidence to support Rachel Reeves’s claim she made an “inadvertent” mistake in failing to get a licence to rent out her south London home.

As pressure mounted on the chancellor, despite the prime minister saying an apology should end the matter, No 10 also declined to say whether Reeves contravened the ministerial code or had broken the law in breaching Southwark council rules.