Rachel Reeves' estate agents breaks silence in rental saga

Rachel Reeves's estate agent has apologised to her for an "oversight" after they did not apply fora licence on her behalf despite offering to do so.

Gareth Martin, owner of Harvey Wheeler, said: "We alert all our clients to the need for a licence. In an effort to be helpful our previous property manager offered to apply for a licence on these clients' behalf, as shown in the correspondence. That property manager suddenly resigned on the Friday before the tenancy began on the following Monday.

"Unfortunately, the lack of application was not picked up by us as we do not normally apply for licences on behalf of our clients; the onus is on them to apply. We have apologised to the owners for this oversight.

"At the time the tenancy began, all the relevant certificates were in place and if the licence had been applied for, we have no doubt it would have been granted.

"Our clients would have been under the impression that a licence had been applied for. Although it is not our responsibility to apply, we did offer to help with this.

"We deeply regret the issue caused to our clients as they would have been under the impression that a licence had been applied for."

Sir Keir Starmer and his independent ethics adviser had received "new information" regarding rental arrangements for the Chancellor's family home, Downing Street has said.

No 10 said they believe the exchange will exonerate Ms after she admitted to mistakenly breaching local council housing rules by failing to obtain a rental licence.

The Prime Minister retains "full confidence" in Ms Reeves after seeing the exchange and she will deliver the November 26 Budget, a No 10 spokesman said.

The emails are expected to be published later on Thursday.

The No 10 spokesman told reporters: "Following a review of emails sent and received by the Chancellor's husband, new information has come to light.

"This information has been passed to the Prime Minister and his independent adviser."

It would be "inappropriate" to give more details, the official said despite repeated questions.

Asked whether the highly-anticipated November 26 Budget would be delivered by the current Chancellor on the expected date, the spokesman confirmed it would.

Sir Keir had sought to draw a line under the issue after Ms Reeves apologised for the error.