Bridget Phillipson has said the row over Angela Rayner’s tax affairs was not like scandals under the previous government as she had “sought to be transparent”.
The Education Secretary told Times Radio: “What we saw in some of those cases in the past was a lack of scrutiny and a lack of transparency.
“The Deputy Prime Minister has sought to be transparent, has set out in some detail, which has been difficult given that it relates to her family, extensive information.
“It’s now in the hands of the independent adviser. That is important, that wasn’t always the case under the previous government, around the approach that they took.
“But transparency and accountability and standards in public life, of course they matter to us as a Government, and they matter to the Prime Minister, and now it’s right that as part of that process the independent adviser can do his work and can reach a conclusion.”