JONATHAN Reynolds has apologised for saying he worked as a solicitor before he became an MP.
The parliamentary representative for the Stalybridge and Hyde constituency has been accused of misrepresenting his legal career and subject of a probe by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA).
The Business and Trade Secretary has also faced calls to resign, amid claims he has described himself as a solicitor on several occasions – including in the House of Commons, on his LinkedIn profile and on an old constituency website no longer online.
Speaking for the first time since the allegations hit the headlines, Mr Reynolds told The Guardian newspaper during a trip to India on government business: “I’ve never presented myself as a qualified solicitor. I have made repeated references to being a trainee solicitor in government press releases, on social media, covered very extensively in the legal press.”
The cabinet minister added: “For a speech – and I think a tweet or maybe Facebook post over a decade ago – I don’t think it’s a huge deal, but I should apologise for that, if anyone has misunderstood that, but I don’t think they have.”
A Downing Street spokesperson has said that Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has accepted a written apology offered by Mr Reynolds.
It is understood that the Labour MP completed a law course and later began to train as a solicitor, but left the programme to run for parliament in 2010.
Qualified solicitors are required to register with the SRA to practice law in England and Wales, while it’s an offence under the Solicitors Act 1974 for someone to falsely imply that they are qualified as a solicitor.
The SRA wrote to Mr Reynolds in January after becoming aware of the error on his LinkedIn profile but decided not to take further action after it was corrected.
Mr Reynolds’s team said an “administrative error” had been amended, with his updated social media profile now saying he was a “trainee solicitor” at Addleshaw Goddard law firm between August 2009 and May 2010.
But the SRA said last week it would “look into” the matter again when “becoming aware of further information”, after the Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick asked the body to investigate claims Reynolds had made about his solicitor credentials.
This included a speech on April 28, 2014 in the Commons when Mr Reynolds said, during a debate about the HS2 railway line, that he had “worked as a solicitor in Manchester city centre”.
Mr Reynolds has, on other occasions, described himself as a trainee solicitor at Addleshaw Goddard.
However, the Conservatives and Reform UK both want further action to be taken against Mr Reynolds.
The Shadow Business Secretary has called on the Prime Minister to publish Mr Reynolds’ written apology and for the Tameside MP to resign.
Conservative MP Andrew Griffith wrote on X (formerly Twitter): “The Business Secretary lied to Parliament. This is still on the record. He should do the proper thing and resign.
“This is a ‘sorry’ from over 4,000 miles away, not a sorry apology. Failing to take responsibility and claiming this was a ‘misinterpretation’ despite it being a specific legal offence to use the term ‘solicitor’ which he must have known.”
Meanwhile, Reform UK leader and Clacton MP Nigel Farage told a crowd in Cornwall that his party would bring a private prosecution against Mr Reynolds over the matter.