No 10 rejects call to publish Rishi Sunak's financial interests now

Downing Street is resisting calls for Rishi Sunak to publish his financial interests today, after a row over his wife's shares in a childcare firm.

It emerged on Monday the PM faces a probe under the parliamentary rulebook after not mentioning the shares during a hearing in Parliament.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer urged him to "come clean" in the interests of transparency.

But Mr Sunak's spokesman said work on a fresh list of interests was "ongoing".

He added there were no plans to publish Mr Sunak's interests separately to the wider list of interests for all government ministers.

That list, overseen by the PM's ethics adviser, is meant to be published twice a year but was last published nearly a year ago.

Mr Sunak has faced questions over shares held by his wife, Akshata Murty, in Koru Kids, a childcare agency that could benefit from a new policy unveiled in last month's Budget.

The prime minister did not mention her shares in the firm when he was questioned by MPs over the childcare policy at a committee hearing last month.

It is understood the parliamentary standards commissioner is investigating whether he broke rules that say MPs should be open about "relevant" financial interests when speaking in Parliament.

On Monday, Downing Street said Mr Sunak had told government officials about the shares as part of a routine conflict-of-interest declaration that was not made public. The BBC has been told this was before he became PM.

The shares are not mentioned in the latest, publicly available list of ministerial interests, which includes financial and other interests considered "directly relevant" to ministers' roles, including those held by close family members.

The list was last updated in May last year, when Mr Sunak was chancellor. The position of prime ministerial ethics adviser was unfilled during a six-month period last year, before current holder Sir Laurie Magnus was appointed in December.

Speaking to broadcasters, Sir Keir said the investigation into Mr Sunak was "serious" and he should publish his own interests by the end of Tuesday, separately from the main list managed by the ethics adviser.

"The register of ministerial interests hasn't been published for nearly a year," added the Labour leader.

"Don't hide behind the process, just come clean and tell everybody what the interest is so people can see it and judge it."

However, Mr Sunak's spokesman told reporters the publication of the list was not a decision "solely for the prime minister to make".

He added that work on updating the list was ongoing, but the prime minister had previously said he wanted this to happen "as quickly as possible".

A pilot of bonuses for childminders was announced in the Budget on 15 March as part of the government's overhaul of childcare. Koru Kids was one of six childminder agencies listed on the government's website.

Under the scheme, childminders who sign up to the profession was be paid "incentive payments" of £600.

This would rise to £1,200 for those who join through an agency, meaning the pilot could generate more business for companies such as Koru Kids.

Sir Keir Starmer has previously been in hot water with Parliament's standards commissioner himself.

In August last year he was found to have committed "minor and/or inadvertent" breaches of the MPs' code of conduct by failing to register eight interests on time.

These included gifts from football teams and the sale of a plot of land.