Rules on government ministers accepting donations and hospitality to be overhauled

The rules on ministers accepting hospitality will be overhauled, the Government has announced.

They will be brought in line with what shadow ministers and backbench MPs must declare, Senior Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden said as he described the current requirements as a 'Tory loophole'. Under the current rules, introduced by David Cameron in 2015, details of hospitality received by ministers in their ministerial capacity are published by departments.

But the information is released quarterly and does not include the value of the hospitality. MPs' and shadow ministers' interests must be declared within 28 days, are published fortnightly and include the cost of the hospitality.

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Mr McFadden told the BBC: "This was a Tory loophole, brought in so that you would have an event where the Tory minister, as it was under the last government, there, the Labour shadow opposite number would also be there, and the Tory minister would not have to declare. That was the Tory rules, we don't think that's fair, so we will close that loophole so ministers and shadow ministers are treated the same going forward."

Government sources pointed to examples such as Dame Priti Patel accepting tickets to the premiere of a James Bond film from the Jamaica Tourist Board, but only including this in her ministerial declarations, claiming it was linked to her then role as home secretary. The tickets were only revealed five months after she accepted them, and with no value attached.

A Government source said: "Keir Starmer is committed to restoring trust in politics. That's why when you see the next edition of the ministerial code it will close the Tory declaration