A Devon MP has called on the Prime Minister to sack his Chancellor after she admitted breaking a rental rule.

Sir Mel Stride, Conservative Shadow Chancellor and MP for Central Devon, said Sir Keir Starmer should ‘grow a backbone’ and launch a proper investigation into Rachel Reeves’ failure to apply for a licence before renting out her family home - a potential breach of the ministerial code and of the law.

However, the PM has decided not to refer her to the independent ethics advisor after an exchange of letters between him and Reeves yesterday evening. Sir Keir concluded the failure to apply for the licence was ‘inadvertent’ and she had acted promptly to rectify it. The incident comes soon after Angela Rayner’s resignation for breaching the ministerial code.

Sir Mel said during a round of media broadcast interviews: “I think the PM needs to show some backbone. We should have a proper investigation into what exactly happened. This seems to be an attempt to put this to bed with a quick exchange of letters, I believe last night.

“And this comes from a Prime Minister who , when he came into office stood on the steps of Downing Street and pledged to restore the dignity and integrity of government.

“But instead, we have seen a whole littany of Louise Haigh and Angela Rayner and others who have fallen well short of that standard. If he is to stand by his word he should conclude her position is untenable.”