Angela Rayner has denied breaking rules over a holiday she took to New York with an MP friend – saying she was, if anything, ‘overly transparent’ about the trip. The Labour deputy leader travelled to the US city for New Year with then-Ilford South MP Sam Tarry and stayed in accommodation provided by Lord Waheed Alli.

Angela Rayner has said she did not break any rules over her “personal holiday” in New York with Sam Tarry, for which the pair stayed at the flat of Labour donor Lord Waheed Alli. The deputy prime minister stayed with her then partner Mr Tarry, a former Labour MP, at the $2.5m Manhattan penthouse over New Year, according to the Sunday Times.

Donations to MPs are “a feature of our politics”, Angela Rayner has insisted amid a row over Labour politicians accepting gifts and freebies. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer had come in for criticism in the past week over accepting more than £100,