Sir Keir Starmer has been hit with a fresh sleaze row after a group linked to the Labour Party was accused of offering businesses private meetings with "an influential Labour figure".
The Labour Infrastructure Forum, which is run by lobbyists, is said to have offered a number of sponsorship packages to businesses since it launched last summer.
Deals included £7,850 plus VAT for a "private breakfast/dinner round table with an influential Labour figure", £11,750 plus VAT for a "parliamentary panel event with key policymakers", and between £21,500 and £30,000 plus VAT to sponsor a "Westminster drinks reception".
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The Times revealed that the think tank is not a lobbying company or officially part of the Labour Party.
However, the group is closely connected with a number of high-profile Labour MPs, including Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones and Northampton South MP Mike Reader.
The Labour Infrastructure Forum, which was launched last January, also has Labour MPs Kirsteen Sullivan and Bill Esterson sitting on its advisory council.
Despite maintaining close connections with Labour MPs, the group has no legal obligation to publicly disclose details of payments it has received from sponsors, or of who has attended its private events.
It also does not have to register with the lobbying watchdog, the Office of the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists.
Sir Keir Starmer
|PA
Responding to the allegaton, an LIF spokesman said: "LIF is a think tank, does not engage in consultant lobbying and does not have clients, and is therefore not required by law to register with the ORCL.
"This is clear on LIF's website and in any communications or contractual arrangements with potential sponsors.
"Like all think tanks, LIF seeks sponsorship to operate and cover costs, and does so on a case-by-case basis.
"LIF does not endorse any of its sponsors' products or services. LIF's policy work is entirely editorially independent from any sponsorship and solely expresses the views of LIF's executive."
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones | PAA Labour Party spokesman added: "Commercial partnerships at events are a long-standing practice and have no bearing on party or Government policy.
"The party fully complies with all rules relating to the reporting of donations."
The row erupted after Labour spent years accusing the Conservative Party of sleaze.
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner vowed to “turn the page on Tory sleaze” ahead of the 2024 General Election.
Angela Rayner | PAShe added: "We will clean up politics, so that by the end of our first term people don’t just feel better off, they can see that politics is working for them, not for Westminster."
However, in a damning opinion poll released earlier this year, 54 per cent of voters described Starmer's Government as being fairly or very sleazy.
A mere 28 per cent said that Labour was not very sleazy or not sleazy at all, with another 19 per cent remaining unsure.
The proportion of 2024 Labour voters who labelled Starmer's Government as either fairly or very sleazy also stood at 25 per cent.
Keir Starmer | GETTY Reform voters are the most likely to see Starmer's Government as sleazy, with 69 per cent describing Labour as very sleazy and an additional 20 per cent opting to describe it as fairly sleazy.
A number of sleaze allegations have been put at Labour's door since Starmer romped to victory last July.
Labour donor Lord Alli was embroiled in an early spat after it emerged he initially held a Downing Street pass after funding at least seven Cabinet Ministers with more than £300,000.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves also came under-fire over suggestions that she embellished her CV, with Anti-Corruption Minister Tulip Siddiq later being forced to resign while Bangladesh carries out its embezzlement investigation into her family.