Safety concerns around nurseries and rental properties linked to a Labour MP have triggered calls for further transparency into politicians’ financial interests.
The comments come as i revealed a string of safety concerns at nurseries operated by a firm founded by Labour MP Jas Athwal.
The nurseries had all recently been criticised by the Government’s education inspector Ofsted after failing to meet child safety rules – including one where there was a “significant event relating to the supervision of children”, and another that was served a “welfare requirements notice” after it failed to meet child safeguarding requirements.
The nurseries have now taken action to rectify the problems and are currently ranked “good” by Ofsted.
These latest revelations raised fresh questions over the transparency of MPs’ business interests and outside earnings. Although the government has pledged to clamp down on second jobs for MPs, serving politicians can still earn significant sums as landlords or from investments.
Alex Parsons, a Senior Researcher at civic charity MySociety told i that the case showed the need for greater transparency over MPs’ financial declarations.
Mr Parsons said: “Ideally MPs shouldn’t have conflicts of interest – but the bare minimum is that the public can understand what they are. When making declarations of interest, MPs shouldn’t just aim to be technically compliant, but to embrace the spirit of transparency.”
In the House of Commons’ Register of Interests, Mr Athwal does not declare any income from the nursery firm. Companies House records show that before he was elected an MP, his wife had received £165,000 in dividends from Village Day since 2020 that have been paid through a company she owns.
Until last month, Companies House records described Mr Athwal as one of the persons “with significant control” over Village Day Nurseries, although this changed in August when companies owned by his wife and business partner took over control. Mr Athwal and his wife have declined to comment about the Ofsted interventions.
As well as the safety concerns, a Labour Party spokeswoman confirmed that filings at Companies House and on the House of Commons’ Register of Interests would need to be corrected.
A Labour Party spokesperson confirmed the MP is a director of Village Day, but stated that he had not been a shareholder in the company since 2017, and that the filings at Companies House and in his House of Commons Register of Interests are incorrect.
They confirmed his wife, through another company, is a significant shareholder of Village Day although like her husband she is not thought to have involvement in the day-to-day running of the nurseries.
In recent weeks, Sir Keir Starmer has faced an increasing amount of scrutiny over the financial interests of himself and his Government.
Starmer’s use of freebies, including box tickets to Arsenal games and tickets to Taylor Swift concerts, has been criticised with former Conservative politician Ruth Davidson saying he’d accepted gifts “again and again and again”.
Meanwhile, the Athwal saga has also led to criticism from the left of Labour over party management, as the embattled MP keeps the whip.
The decision to support Athwal is proving controversial, following the suspension of multiple left wing MPs for voting against the 2 child benefit cap in July.
Momentum, the campaign group organised by many on the Labour left said in a statement it was a “travesty” that Athwal “remains a Labour MP while MPs like Zarah Sultana, John McDonnell and Apsana Begum do not have the whip for voting to scrap the 2 child [benefit] cap.”
Andrew Fisher, who previously served as former Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn’s Director of Policy and writes columns for i, also criticised Sir Keir Starmer’s handling of party management and cited Mr Athwal as an example.
Mr Fisher said: “It’s a strange situation that scandal-plagued Jas Athwal still has the Labour whip, yet seven Labour MPs who voted to lift children out of poverty do not.”
Jas Athwal MP and the Labour Party were approached for comment.
