Shadow housing minister also had use of a phone and car from his old employers Unite but did not declare it

Shadow housing minister Jack Dromey failed to give an “accurate picture” of nearly £60,000 of payments from his old employers Unite in accordance with Parliamentary rules, a committee of MPs has found.

The House of Commons Committee on Standards and Privileges also found that he did not properly declare that he had been given use of a car and a phone by Unite and failed to declare his interest in the Union on two occasions when speaking in parliamentary debates.

The committee’s report concluded: “We consider Mr Dromey’s failure to ensure that the register gave an accurate picture of his relationship with Unite is serious.”

Between June 2010 and the end of October 2010 Dromey continued to do between 10 and 15 hours work a week for Unite as deputy general secretary despite having declared that he was leaving the position in June, shortly after he was elected. For the work he received £27,867.

He also received an ex-gratia payment of £30,000 upon ending his employment in November 2010, which was not declared until July 2011, when he also set about clarifying the full details on the rest of the payments, which were declared in October 2011, the committee found.

In a letter to the committee he said: “I accept without hesitation that the registration should have been amended, and although I did subsequently update my registration, this was clearly too late and in breach of the rules.”

He has offered to apologise on the floor of the House.

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