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british prime minister starmer, who has just taken office for two months, and his wife victoria are caught up in the "wardrobe gate" scandal. local media reported that the starmers received gifts from wealthy businessmen but did not declare them in full in time. starmer is facing an investigation for allegedly violating the rules of the british parliament. the top leaders of the ruling labour party are trying hard to calm the controversy, but the opposition conservative party is demanding a thorough investigation.

starmer and his wife victoria (source: global times)

according to reports from the global times citing multiple british media, a source revealed last weekend that lord ali, a well-known labour party donor and british entrepreneur, provided starmer's wife victoria with a number of high-end clothing, private shopping, and clothing alteration services worth more than 5,000 pounds.

according to the regulations, any mp must declare the gift or donation within 28 days. however, victoria received clothes from ali in may this year, but starmer did not declare it until last week. the british broadcasting corporation (bbc) said that ali not only gave victoria high-end clothes, but also gave starmer several pairs of glasses, clothes and accommodation, with a value of more than 20,000 pounds.

it is reported that although ali does not hold a public office, he is currently one of the few people who is said to be allowed to freely enter and exit 10 downing street. the british "guardian" reported that the wealthy businessman has donated 500,000 pounds to the labour party since 2020. in addition, this is not the first time that starmer has failed to declare the gifts he received and failed to comply with parliamentary rules.

on september 17, starmer responded that there was nothing wrong with the way he accepted gifts and he would continue to accept gifts from others. "all mps will accept gifts. the key is to publicly declare these gifts in accordance with relevant regulations."

british foreign secretary lamy said in an interview with the bbc earlier that the prime minister and his wife did not have a special budget provided by taxpayers for their clothing expenses when going out, and hinted that starmer's wealth was far less than sunak's, so it was excusable. but such an explanation seems to be adding fuel to the fire. the british independent said that most international politicians, including the us president, do not have a budget to buy clothes.

the conservatives said it was “unbelievable” that the starmers accepted lavish gifts following the government’s decision to scrap winter fuel benefits for millions of pensioners.

one netizen expressed disappointment, "i want to know how much their clothes are worth in terms of pension and fuel subsidies. apparently they use two different rules than us."

according to a report by xinhua news agency on september 10, the british house of commons rejected a motion against cutting winter heating subsidies by 348 votes to 228, which means that about 10 million british pensioners will not receive heating subsidies this winter.

figures show that cutting subsidies would only save around £1.5 billion in total, far from enough to make up for the £22 billion fiscal shortfall that chancellor of the exchequer rachel reeves had previously warned of.

in july this year, the uk government's public debt reached about 2.7 trillion pounds, accounting for about 99.4% of its gross domestic product (gdp). a report released by the uk national institute of economic and social research in august showed that based on the current government spending and taxation plans, the budget deficit level will remain above 3% of gdp in the next five years, and the public debt will be about 100% of gdp.

jimu news comprehensive global times, xinhua news agency

(source: jimu news)

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