Science and Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said “expectations of this Labour Government are so much higher than they were of the previous government”. It comes after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer paid back more than £6,000 worth of gifts and hospitality he received since entering Number 10 in the summer. Asked about freebies and the Government’s position, Mr Kyle told Sky News’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips programme: “We tried so hard while we had a previous set of leaders in our country, a previous government that was flouting the rules, breaking the rules and lowering standards.
” He added: “We focused so much on the rules, that what we didn’t do – and we now know we have to do – is take what the public are thinking about what happens within the rules. This is something that we didn’t quite see at the time. “So what we’re trying to do is adapt to what is the expectations, because expectations of this Labour Government are so much higher than they were of the previous government, for understandable reasons.
“And we’re trying to meet the expectations that the public have.” Pushed again on what ministers would do when it came to accepting gifts such as football tickets, Mr Kyle told the Sky programme: “What Keir Starmer has done is made sure he’s repaid the articles that have happened since the election and we’re also working on a new set of rules, because there’s a separate set of rules at the moment for people who are govern.
