Anti-corruption minister Tulip Siddiq quits government after ethics investigation

Anti-corruption minister Tulip Siddiq has resigned from the government, saying questions about her links with her aunt’s political party in Bangladesh had become a ‘distraction’.

Pressure had been building on the Labour MP for days, after it was revealed she lived in a number of London properties linked to her family’s political allies.

Earlier today, it was reported she had been named in a new Bangladeshi investigation into illegal allocation of land.

Siddiq, who was responsible for tackling corruption in the finance industry as city minister, referred herself to the independent advisor on ministerial standards Sir Laurie Magnus at the beginning of last week.

Today, Magnus said it was ‘regrettable that she was not more alert to the potential reputational risks’ of her ‘close family’s association with Bangladesh’.

He concluded she had not broken the ministerial code, but pointedly added in his letter to Keir Starmer that he ‘will want to consider her ongoing responsibilities in the light of this’.

In her own letter to the PM, Siddiq wrote ‘it is clear that continuing in my role as Economic Secretary to the Treasury is likely to be a distraction from the work of government’.

She added: ‘My loyalty is and always will be to this Labour government and the programme of national renewal and transformation it has embarked upon. I have therefore decided to resign my ministerial position.’

Siddiq’s aunt, Sheikh Hasina, served as prime minister of Bangladesh between 1996 and 2001 then again from 2009 to 2024.

She resigned last year amid a mass uprising against her government, which had been plagued for years by accusations of widespread corruption and brutality.

In his response to Siddiq’s letter, Sir Keir said he accepted her resignation ‘with sadness’.

He wrote: ‘I appreciate that to end ongoing distraction from delivering our agenda to change Britain, you have made a difficult decision and want to be clear that the door remains open for you going forward.’

Emma Reynolds, a new MP elected last year who previously served as Parliamentary Secretary for the Treasury, has been appointed to replace Siddiq as Economic Secretary to the Treasury.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said in a post on X: ‘It was clear at the weekend that the anti-corruption minister’s position was completely untenable.

‘Yet Keir Starmer dithered and delayed to protect his close friend.’

She said Sir Keir’s expression of sadness at her departure showed ‘weak leadership from a weak prime minister’.

Lib Dem MP Sarah Olney said: ‘It’s right Tulip Siddiq resigned, you can’t have an anti-corruption minister mired in a corruption scandal.

‘After years of Conservative sleaze and scandal, people rightly expected better from this government.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.