Undercover reporters posing as developers have been offered the chance to meet housing ministers by Labour peer Lord Evans of Watford in exchange for a £25,000 sponsorship of a commercial event, an investigation by The Guardian newspaper has claimed.

In a series of online meetings, the journalists told the peer that they represented companies that turned old department stores into homes and wanted to make sure Labour kept the Conservative’s beneficial tax breaks and ‘change of use’ rules.

When they asked if he could get them access to housing secretary Angela Rayner, Evans said: “It’s great being a Labour peer at the moment because we’ve got our mates who now have senior jobs, which is wonderful”.

The Guardian says Evans also advised its reporters that the best way to reach her was not directly but through a more junior housing ministers and made it clear that a £25,000 sponsorship payment would facilitate access, the investigation found.

Wrong way

Davies admitted the deal could be taken ‘the wrong way’, telling the reports not to write anything down as it “looks dodgy”.

He later suggested that the event would try and get Matthew Pennycook to attend and that they could also host a separate housing debate in a Lords committee room and invite ministers, possibly even Rayner.

The newspaper asked De Montfort University’s political integrity expert Jonathan Rose about Evans’ behaviour.

Rose said he believed Evans’ offers of access were an inappropriate “abuse of power, by virtue of him being a member of the House of Lords, for the benefit of his son, and his own benefit”.

When Evans was approached by The Guardian, he denied any wrongdoing, saying: “To my knowledge, I have not broken any House of Lords’ rules and I have not taken any personal benefits”.

He added: “I would not and I do not accept payments for hosting any House of Lords events”.

Read the report in full.