Over 50 UK MPs including former Prime Minister Theresa Mayhave shares in private companies that they did not declare, which could represent a conflict of interestsaccording to an investigation published today by the local press.
May and other legislators, such as former Education Minister Gavin Williamson, have these investments in their name or in the name of people very close to them, such as their spouses or partners, according to The Guardian newspaper.
The newspaper detected that the indicated deputies own shares in banks, construction companies, defense industry companies, electricity operators and supermarkets, among other items. Such undeclared holdings could present a conflict of interest even if they are not in breach of the House of Commons Rules on Disclosure of Personal Property.
The rule, in force since 2015, obliges deputies to declare shares when they represent more than 15% of ownership or when their value exceeds 70,000 British pounds (around $90,000) in a company.
In addition, it obliges legislators to declare the holding of shares that could imply a conflict of interest, although this is left to their own discretion, according to the Europa Press news agency.
“If a deputy has shares in a company affected by the legislation that is being processed in Parliament, a tension is inevitable between the protection of his personal affairs and that of the public good”said the director of Investigation of the NGO Transparency in the United Kingdom, Steve Goodrich.
“Having this data open is key to avoiding abuse of authority,” he added.
The most paradigmatic cases
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak held shares in the National Power Grid up to two days before he was chosen as the Conservative Party candidate and then put his investments under a trust, he announced at the time.
Likewise, when she was Minister of the Interior, May had shares in British Petroleum (BP) and her husband had in that company and in the Barclays bank, the telecommunications operator BT and the Centrica service company.
Four months after she was appointed prime minister, those shares were already controlled by a trust, but while she was still home secretary, May met with BT representatives while her husband still held undeclared shares in that company, according to the investigation.
May “rejects any suggestion that she has breached parliamentary legislation or the ministerial code because of her husband’s financial interests in BT,” a spokesperson for the former prime minister said in the article.
Source: Ambito
