to believe Lady Starmer should pay for her own clothes and personal stylists?

[LargeDeviation]

https://news.sky.com/story/starmer-faces-investigation-over-possible-breach-of-parliamentary-rules-after-labour-donor-pays-for-wifes-clothes-13215216

And Keir Starmer should have paid himself for his 'several pairs of glasses' and £19K worth of work clothes? On top of that there was £20K for accommodation for Sir Keir and another 'similar sum' on 'private office' costs.

Purely by coincidence, it seems the donor was given a Downing Street security pass allowing easy access to the corridors of power without any role in government.

And yes, Carrie and Boris Johnson should have paid for their wallpaper and hampers too, that is just as sleazy.

Starmer touting round for someone to buy his underpants is possibly even more distasteful than Johnson scrabbling around to buy his tacky wallpaper.

If you make the public care about wallpaper then you've only turned the same weapon back on yourself for clothing - not you Labour that is

To a certain extent the clothes etc is a distraction. Political donations are a much more problematic area because that is certainly influencing policy. The Tories did it and Labour do it. There should be a limit on political donations from individuals and companies and trade unions should allow members to decide whether or not to donate to a party.
As George Carlin said, it's a big club and you're not in it.

Also pretty disgusting that he is apparently paying legal advice on what and what not to declare - why not disclose anything that is conceivably a gift.

Blimey, this is historic! I agree with you.

and trade unions should allow members to decide whether or not to donate to a party.

I believe this happens already, doesn’t it?

Ok you clearly don’t remember the last Labour government.

It was like this last time too. They were dodgy as fuck. At least with the tories people expect it.

Vicky could hire a designer dress for special occasions.

Totally agree.

Politics is treated like football in this country now. People pick a side and defend it through thick and thin when we should be holding ALL MP's to account,

I expect nothing less, the colour of the tie doesn't change anything.

Exactly.

I remember the last Labour government vividly. And it wasn’t like this.

Politicians and politics in a nutshell. I still can't believe people believe pre-election campaign and promises.

Quite.

Happy to oblige @PandoraSox.

If it were a 'baseless rumour' multiple independent national and local news outlets across the political spectrum would not be discussing it. This will truly be Labour's poll tax moment if they go through with this.

https://news.sky.com/story/prime-minister-sir-keir-starmer-refuses-to-rule-out-axing-single-person-council-tax-discount-13213949

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/single-person-household-council-tax-discount-164540836.html

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/prime-minister-budget-local-government-association-tv-licences-b2612283.html

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/05/01/labour-widows-tax-single-person-discount-council-tax/

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/cost-of-living/martin-lewis-warns-over-severely-29923671

https://www.yourmoney.com/household-bills/single-person-council-tax-discount-under-threat/

@Cream carpet , Have her clothes really cost tens of thousands? If so she should get some help choosing. Her clothes are inappropriate ( flutter sleeves) and extremely cheap looking. I thought she must be economising.

@Rummly there are still Labour party affiliated Trade Unions although not all are now.

Yep, it appears to be on the table, but obviously we will not know until the budget in October. Labour are evading answering the question, according to a range of news sources (see reputable news links on page 3 of this thread in response to another poster).

Ooh I say! That’s a bit catty.

Mind, if you are going to be the PM’s wife I suppose some style guidance is advisable.

The issue is more what's in it for the donor? Why spend many thousands dressing his wife even before he was PM? It wasn't advertised so wasn't for his brands (which he doesn't own anymore), so why?

Lord Alli's involvement with the Labour leader has already proved controversial after it emerged he had been given a Downing Street security pass without apparently having a government role.

I'm sure stuff like this has nothing to do with it eh.

Sure. But I thought all union members were offered the option of opting out from personal levy for donation to political parties?

If that’s right and it gets repealed by Labour I’ll be the first to come on here and shout about ugly Labour shenanigans.

Fair enough re: the reputable sources. It is all still rumour though. Nothing concrete.

If Starmer and Reeves did do it, it would be monumentally stupid of them. People in England would lose the 25% discount. Not so the rest of the UK. Wales has already committed to keeping the discount (it is reviewing the Welsh CT system) and I bet Scotland is the same (am assuming it has the discount too). Not sure about NI system.

Which is why I think it is a rumour and won't happen. Let's see what the budget brings.

Really? Blunket , mandleson both had scandals and got back into favour and that’s just off the top of my head.

I’m completely happy with a donor providing a “business” wardrobe for them both as long as it’s declared.

They’re under scrutiny, particularly her, by people like oddandelsewhere saying ‘her clothes are inappropriate ( flutter sleeves) and extremely cheap looking.’

The alternative is you only have PMs with massive inherited wealth - or those who marry into it like Rishi Sunak.

The security pass is more of an issue for me but if the clothing thing is within the rules then it is. All politicians accept freebies. It’s a pity they weren’t declared on time, that’s inefficient and irritating but if they’re going to ask for four figures to heat their second homes (I wish that things like contributions to MPs energy bills were capped so they had to think carefully before warming themselves at the taxpayers’ expense), they’re going to accept clothes.

I also don’t think the PM’s salary is THAT huge. No, it’s not low but they have a pretty big job and it’s not up at CEO level.

The thing is though, how do you separate the issues?