Esther McVey has accused government of having one rule for the Chancellor and one for the rest of the country – after Rachel Reeves got away with an “inadvertent error” over failing to obtain a rental licence on her property.
Ms McVey said anyone would have suffered serious consequences for their actions.
Speaking in Treasury Questions Ms McVey said: “The Chancellor has justified her lack of licence for renting out her house as an “inadvertent error”. HMRC are never prepared to accept people make inadvertent errors so will this now change, or does the Chancellor expect to be treated differently to how everyone else is treated by HMRC when they make inadvertent errors.”
Last week Chancellor Rachel Reeves admitted she and her husband had failed to obtain a licence needed to rent out their London home when she moved into Downing Street.
Ms Reeves initially claimed she did not know a licence was needed, but emails which later emerged showed she was aware. Since then, the letting agency attempted to shoulder the blame for the mistake.
If a property does not have the correct licence, then a landlord and letting agent could be hit with an unlimited fine or prosecution.
In response to Ms McVey, Exchequer Secretary Dan Tomlinson said: “I am not sure the matter has much to do with HMRC.”
Ms McVey said: “It is an absolute disgrace. As Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, is in charge of HMRC and would be pursuing the public over an ‘inadvertent error’ but she expects to get away with that excuse herself, it’s one rule for them and one rule for everyone else.
The Prime Minister has confirmed no further action will be taken against Ms Reeves.