Angela Rayner has defended Taylor Swift being given a blue-light escort by means of London as they “needed to make sure she was safe”.
The deputy prime minister denied senior Labour figures, together with the house secretary and London mayor, got tickets to Swift’s August reveals within the capital in trade for police safety.
Ms Rayner reiterated what different Labour politicians have mentioned, that the choice to present the megastar a police escort was “an operational decision” by the Met Police.
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“I absolutely dispute that somehow that this was, in any way, connected to whether somebody went to a concert or not,” she mentioned.
She mentioned it was right down to the actual fact Swift’s concert events in Vienna had been cancelled as a result of a foiled terror assault, which was meant to kill tens of hundreds of followers.
“We needed to make sure that that person was safe. And it was a policing matter, not an issue for politicians. It was the police that make the decision,” she mentioned.
“It’s right that they make the decision. And I fully support them in that.”
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Dwelling Sec given free Swift tickets
Ms Rayner added that police offered the safety to make sure Swift might proceed with the concert events “which brought in huge amounts of investment of money into our economy, including those small businesses that need that support”.
Mr Balls was supplied the 4 tickets on 4 August, earlier than Swift’s reveals in Vienna had been cancelled, and the couple attended the gig on 16 August after the safety discussions.
Ms Cooper and London Mayor Sadiq Khan spoke to the Metropolitan Police to encourage them to present the megastar a “VVIP escort” by means of London for her Wembley Stadium concert events.
Picture:
Followers collect outdoors Wembley Stadium forward of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour live performance. Pic: PA
The Met had been reportedly reluctant to signal it off as a blue-light escort is usually reserved for senior members of the Royal Household and high-level politicians, because it comes at big expense to the taxpayer, The Solar reported.
No details about the tickets appeared within the public area till Wednesday.
The tickets had been understood to be value £170 – lower than the £300 that will make it a declarable expense – however the house secretary made the declaration to the Cupboard Workplace on Wednesday.
It additionally understood the house secretary’s crew had been liaising with their everlasting secretary’s workplace about this for the final week or so.
