THE Stourbridge MP has been reprimanded by the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner and has apologised to the Commons over failing to declare her trip to Israel and Palestine on time.
Cat Eccles MP was part of a delegation of parliamentarians that made the trip in June, which cost an estimated £2,600 per person and was funded and organised by the Labour Party's most prominent pro-Israel group, Labour Friends of Israel (LFI).
However, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, Daniel Greenberg CB, opened an investigation into Ms Eccles after she failed to declare the trip before the deadline.
Last week (November 25), the inquiry was rectified and Ms Eccles was found to have breached rules five and six of the parliamentary code of conduct, relating to the failure to register an interest within the 28-day timeframe set by the House and failure to make a full and frank declaration of a relevant interest when speaking in the House on 10 June 2025.
Mr Greenberg CB described both breaches as “inadvertent” and, as part of the rectification process, ruled the relevant entry in the Register of Members' 20 Financial Interests will be annotated, so it is clear that it has been the subject of an inquiry, and said Ms Eccles should make an apology to the House on a Point of Order.
He said: “I concluded that the evidence submitted did demonstrate on the balance of probabilities that a breach of the rules had occurred.
“Both breaches of the rules have been resolved by the rectification process that is available under Standing Order No. 150.
“As part of that process, Ms Eccles has acknowledged and apologised for her breaches of the rules (both in writing to the House through me and in-person in the 10 Chamber) and the interest in question will be annotated in the next edition of the Register of Members’ Financial Interests.”
Ms Eccles has previously said the breach was down to an “administrative error” and wanted to make it clear that she never “sought to conceal the fact she had been on this trip”.
Speaking to the House of Commons on November 13, Ms Eccles said: “I would like to apologise to the House for failing adequately to declare an interest when speaking in the House on 10 June this year during the debate on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
“Although I referred to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests, I inadvertently failed to declare that the visit had been funded by Labour Friends of Israel and that it had not yet been processed to appear on the register.
“That was in breach of the rules and I wish to apologise to the House for the error.”
During her visit, Ms Eccles visited a host of Palestinian business leaders, both Palestinian and Israeli entrepreneurs and Israeli politicians over the course of the four-day delegation, including Israeli President Isaac Herzog.
She said as part of the trip, she spoke with members of the Israeli Government, and members of Israeli opposition parties, visited Kfar Aziz Kibbutz, which lies around 1km from Gaza, and visited the site of the Nova Festival where the attacks on October 7, 2023, occurred.
Ms Eccles previously said the trip did not change her “fundamental views” on the crisis in Gaza and the West.
She said: “I call again for a ceasefire, and for the political leadership on both sides to work on a long-term solution which respects the right of the rule of international law and provides a safe and sustainable peace for Palestinians and Israelis."
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