MP Alberto Costa’s undeclared wife employment sparks overhaul of parliamentary staff register

Conservative MP Alberto Costa, chair of the Commons Standards Committee, failed to declare that his wife, Dr Maria Costa, works as his part-time office manager while speaking in a Commons debate on July 16 about the Register of Interests of Members’ Staff. The omission breached House rules, and the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, Daniel Greenberg, later concluded the breach was “inadvertent.” Costa publicly apologized on April 22, acknowledging the failure to disclose the relevant interest.

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The Register of Interests, published since 1993, listed the names and relevant interests of roughly 2,000 parliamentary staff. In response to security and privacy concerns—particularly for constituency-office employees—the Standards Committee recommended replacing individual names with job titles. The revised system, which took effect last month, expands the register to cover about 4,000 people, including staff with access to parliamentary IT systems and those holding parliamentary passes.

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Daniel Greenberg stated that Costa should have declared his wife’s employment because it could reasonably be seen as influencing his remarks, but he emphasized the breach was accidental and did not refer the case to the Standards Committee. The Standards Committee defended the name-removal policy as a proportionate balance between transparency and staff security, noting that the change was necessary to protect personal data.

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Transparency and anti-corruption campaigners argue that removing names will hinder the public’s ability to spot conflicts of interest, lobbying, or foreign influence. The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (Ipac) warned that the register had previously exposed serious allegations of Chinese espionage, implying that anonymity could conceal similar threats.

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The new rules coincide with an ongoing investigation of Reform UK leader Nigel Farage over an alleged failure to declare a £5 million gift from businessman Christopher Harborne. If Greenberg finds a breach, the matter could be referred to the Standards Committee, which may impose sanctions ranging from an apology to a suspension of ten sitting days—an action that would trigger a statutory recall process in Farage’s Clacton constituency.

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