Prince Andrew MPs push for inquiry into Royal Lodge living arrangements

Keir Starmer has indicated he is open to MPs questioning Prince Andrew in person about his residence at Royal Lodge, where he has lived for more than 20 years without paying rent.

- Jessica Elgot Deputy political editor

MPs on the public accounts committee, which scrutinises public spending, are “pushing hard” to begin an inquiry into Andrew’s home in Windsor Great Park, the Guardian understands, and gathering support to look into the financial arrangements.

The select committee is chaired by the longstanding Conservative MP Geoffrey Clifton-Brown. Any decision to launch an inquiry would need to be agreed by the whole committee.

The Liberal Democrat leader, Ed Davey, wrote to Clifton-Brown yesterday to ask him to open an inquiry. "Proper transparency is urgently needed, and parliament has an important role to play in scrutinising the crown estate and ensuring that taxpayers' interests are upheld," he wrote, saying he was "confident you would have cross-party support for such an inquiry".

The former chair of the committee, Margaret Hodge, has criticised the living arrangements of Andrew, who has been stripped of his dukedom by the palace after new revelations about his friendship with the convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.