MP behind plan to keep Commons staff secret… forgot to mention he employs his wife

The MP who oversaw moves to hide the names of 2,000 parliamentary staff employed by politicians in Westminster was forced to apologise for failing to declare that he was employing his own wife. Alberto Costa, chairman of the Commons Standards Committee, failed to declare his wife’s employment while speaking in a debate about the staff register. Six months later, the committee he chairs recommended that staff names should no longer be published – a move critics warn will make it harder to expose conflicts of interest, lobbying and foreign influence in Westminster. Shorts The row comes at an awkward time for Costa’s committee, which is responsible for judging whether MPs have broken Parliament’s rules and could ultimately be called on to rule whether Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has done so. Costa employs his wife, Dr Maria Costa, as a part-time office manager. Her employment has been properly recorded in his own Register of Members’ Financial Interests since 2016. But on 16 July last year, Costa spoke in the Commons during a debate on a report by the Standards Committee about the Register of Interests of Members’ Staff. He did not declare that his wife worked for him. During the debate, Costa said the committee was aware of concerns raised by staff about having their names placed on a public register and would consider whether changes were needed. The Standards Committee later agreed that all staff names, including Costa’s wife, should be replaced by job titles in the public register. The changes took effect last month, marking a major overhaul to a register that had published the names and relevant interests of MPs’ staff since 1993. The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, Daniel Greenberg, later concluded Costa should have declared his wife’s employment as it could reasonably be thought his words were influenced by her position – but he added that the breach had been “inadvertent” and the case was not referred to the Standards Committee. On 22 April, Costa apologised to the Commons, saying: “I inadvertently failed to declare a relevant interest: that I employ my wife, who is subject to the rules about the Register of Interests of Members’ Staff.” He added: “This was in breach of the House’s rules, and I apologise to the House for this error.” The new rules will also see the number of people required to register their interests expanded from around 2,000 to roughly 4,000 – including staff with access to parliamentary IT systems, as well as those with parliamentary passes. Although more staff now have to register their interests, the public will have less information about them. The decision has attracted criticism from transparency and anti-corruption campaigners, who say removing names will make it harder to identify potential conflicts of interest and lobbying or foreign influence in Westminster. The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (Ipac) said that serious allegations of “Chinese espionage” had been exposed through the register. The committee said the change was necessary because of security and privacy concerns, particularly for staff working in MPs’ constituency offices and that the loss of transparency was proportionate to the security issues. Farage is being investigated by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards over an alleged failure to declare a £5m gift from businessman Christopher Harborne under Parliament’s rules on MPs’ financial interests. Farage denies he was required to declare it. If Greenberg concludes that Farage has breached the rules, it will be referred to the Standards Committee, which could recommend a sanction ranging from an apology or training to a suspension from the Commons. A suspension of 10 sitting days would trigger the statutory recall process, giving voters in Farage’s Clacton constituency the opportunity to call for his removal. If at least 10 per cent of eligible voters sign a petition, another by-election would follow. Costa has been approached for comment.