Rachel Reeves Accepts 'Freebie' Theatre Tickets

When I was little we used to get free tickets for the circus from school because they could never sell enough...

Allira

keepingquiet

Did she go see the play? Would it have made a difference if she didn't use them? What was the play? If I'd have known sooner I could have gone if she didn't want to use them?
I may e-mail my MP and ask her if she has any free tickets she won't be using, and maybe I could have them?

I'd hate to think they were wasted, too!

It was probably for a rubbish play anyway...

Even better would be no freebies allowed.

I wouldn’t say ‘nothing to see here’ exactly, but it’s a minor infraction.
It would be better if all politicians remembered to declare their freebies in time.

If this is all we can find to worry about ......

keepingquiet

Did she go see the play? Would it have made a difference if she didn't use them? What was the play? If I'd have known sooner I could have gone if she didn't want to use them?
I may e-mail my MP and ask her if she has any free tickets she won't be using, and maybe I could have them?

I'd hate to think they were wasted, too!

She is perfectly entitled to accept tickets- her “offence” was not to declare it within the prescribed time frame.
She’s not the first from any party and she won’t be the last.

Nothing to see here!

Oreo

foxie48

Life as a minister is pretty all consuming, if she fails to register that she's received theatre tickets in a timely fashion I'm honestly not bothered. It's a fuss about nothing!

Don’t they have assistants working for them who can remind them about this stuff? One PA at the very least.

Of course they do, but if the PA makes a mistake it's still the minister who gets sanctioned, that's the whole point. It's a fuss about nothing!

Oreo

foxie48

Life as a minister is pretty all consuming, if she fails to register that she's received theatre tickets in a timely fashion I'm honestly not bothered. It's a fuss about nothing!

Don’t they have assistants working for them who can remind them about this stuff? One PA at the very least.

It could well have been the failure of an assistant whose job it was? Or one person thinking another had done it?

RR had 3 visits to theatre in that year, both others around £276, (her only gifts in the year) and the other 2 were declared properly, which is why I think it really was an error where she had assumed that it had been done.

nanna8

I wouldn’t worry about this, it is just minor. I would be more worried about her policies.

This ☹️
Theatre tickets declared late pale into insignificance when put next to her budget and decisions.

Did she go see the play? Would it have made a difference if she didn't use them? What was the play? If I'd have known sooner I could have gone if she didn't want to use them?
I may e-mail my MP and ask her if she has any free tickets she won't be using, and maybe I could have them?

foxie48

Life as a minister is pretty all consuming, if she fails to register that she's received theatre tickets in a timely fashion I'm honestly not bothered. It's a fuss about nothing!

Don’t they have assistants working for them who can remind them about this stuff? One PA at the very least.

Wyllow3

Just another concerted attempt by the press - I think emanated originally from the Express this time - to try and diss anything Labour. Another day, another poke.

Whilst ignoring individuals in other parties?

I suggest looking at glass houses and throwing stones.

Meanwhile Farage received -
"Nigel Farage paid £189,000 last year by gold company to work part-time

Reform UK leader’s work for GB News and social media income bring total earnings since July to almost £600,000." (Guardian news, Jan 2025)

Above all, this included over £40.000 yes £40.000 for a single speaking engagement with NOMAD an organisation which runs jollies for high earners how to legally avoid paying tax

Suggest a sense of proportion?

It's not hard to check MP's Registers of Interest. One interesting factoid is how sums of money that used to be declared as gifts is now declared under "supporting constituency work" but not what the money is spent on Robert Jenrick has 4 pages of these.

(you can tell the difference as there are entries which do specify as "paying a worker for doing x on Y project for x weeks)

Hear, hear Wyllow 👏👏👏

Just another concerted attempt by the press - I think emanated originally from the Express this time - to try and diss anything Labour. Another day, another poke.

Whilst ignoring individuals in other parties?

I suggest looking at glass houses and throwing stones.

Meanwhile Farage received -
"Nigel Farage paid £189,000 last year by gold company to work part-time

Reform UK leader’s work for GB News and social media income bring total earnings since July to almost £600,000." (Guardian news, Jan 2025)

Above all, this included over £40.000 yes £40.000 for a single speaking engagement with NOMAD an organisation which runs jollies for high earners how to legally avoid paying tax

Suggest a sense of proportion?

It's not hard to check MP's Registers of Interest. One interesting factoid is how sums of money that used to be declared as gifts is now declared under "supporting constituency work" but not what the money is spent on Robert Jenrick has 4 pages of these.

(you can tell the difference as there are entries which do specify as "paying a worker for doing x on Y project for x weeks)

David49 If it had been a couple of weeks on a private island in the Caribbean I would be interested, a few theatre tickets is way below my interest level.

Agreed.

I hardly think a few tickets are a bribe, she just declared late.

I'd worry more why she was in such disaray as to be late.

Lots of people are given free theatre tickets, football tickets etc by the firms for which they work, eazybee.
It's usually a perk for executives rather than the workers, sadly.

I wouldn’t worry about this, it is just minor. I would be more worried about her policies.

All MPs are expected to register gifts she, more than most, has a large staff to deal with these issues. Her family seem to be the ones benefiting from her freebies. Another annoyance is that she, with a large income, is given tickets which the regular theatre -going paying public then cannot buy. If I were a sports supporter I would feel the same about Starmer and his executive boxes.

It was a late declaration. The issue is utterly trivial.

Inside your head must be a really miserable place to be, mae13 Do you find joy in anything 🤷‍♀️

If it had been a couple of weeks on a private island in the Caribbean I would be interested, a few theatre tickets is way below my interest level.

Dishonest - all polititians are, it comes with the job.

Skydancer

Oh for goodness sake- so what!

Hear, hear!

Another really interesting thread🙄

(That was responding to Wyllow)

That makes sense as the Ministers register seems to be 3 monthly...