Labour Treasury minister Tulip Siddiq is being investigated by Parliament’s standards watchdog in the first such inquiry since the election.
Ms Siddiq, Economic Secretary to the Treasury and MP for Hampstead and Highgate, is facing the investigation following for the late registration of interests, according to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner’s website.
It followed a probe by the Mail on Sunday which revealed Ms Siddiq had failed to declare income from a London rental property for more than a year.
The inquiry is thought to relate to Ms Siddiq’s failure to register rental income from a property in London, which a Labour spokesman said was ‘an administrative oversight’ for which she had apologised.
The spokesman said: ‘Tulip will co-operate fully with the Parliamentary Commissioner on Standards on this matter.’
Tulip Siddiq (pictured) failed to declare income from a London rental property for more than a year
Ms Siddiq is the first MP of the new Parliament to be placed under investigation by the Standards Commissioner.
She previously apologised after breaking MP rules over her financial interests earlier this month.
Sir Keir Starmer has repeatedly vowed to beef up integrity in public life. The Prime Minister said this month: ‘People falling short of the required standards will face consequences, as you would expect.’
A spokesman for Labour said: ‘This was an administrative oversight which was declared with the Commons registrar and Tulip apologised as soon as she was made aware of the issue.’
Ms Siddiq is the niece of the authoritarian prime minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, who introduced a controversial quota system for government jobs.
The decision prompted widespread riots in the country, with more than 200 people having been killed, and at least 2,500 arbitrarily arrested and around 61,000 protesters named as accused persons in the cases.
Ms Siddiq made a name for herself campaigning for the release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe from Iran, but was criticised for staying silent on human rights abuses in Bangladesh.
Ms Siddiq, now the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, has been reported to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner over the breach
Last year the Commissioner put MPs on notice over late registration of interests, telling them it ‘undermines the registration system. Members are personally responsible for timely registration. Future breaches will be investigated and reported for sanction.’
Investigations into three former MPs which began during the last Parliament remain open.
Former Conservative MP Bob Stewart is being investigated for failing to declare an interest and an alleged lack of co-operation with the watchdog’s inquiry.
Ex-Tory and Reclaim MP Andrew Bridgen is being investigated over registration of his interests, while former Tory Sir Conor Burns is being investigated for use of information received in confidence.
During the last Parliament, the Standards Commissioner opened more than 100 investigations into MPs, the majority of which were resolved by ‘rectification’ – a procedure that allows MPs to correct minor or inadvertent breaches of Commons rules.
