Foto: Jens Dresling

The Social Democratic Leader Helle Thorning Schmidt has admitted to providing incorrect information about the number of days that her husband Stephen Kinnock spends in Denmark, according to Ritzau.

The response comes after B.T., in a right of access case concerning an e-mail sent to the Justice Ministry in October 2009, found that Thorning-Schmidt said her husband was in Denmark every weekend all year round from Friday to Monday.

The correspondence with the Justice Ministry came in connection with a request for permission for her husband, who is a British citizen, to jointly own the couple’s house. Stephen Kinnock, the son of the former British Labour Leader Neil Kinnock, works in Geneva in Switzerland.

That correspondence seemed to be at issue with information provided to the Danish tax authorities earlier this month that Kinnock was in Denmark for a maximum of 33 weekends each year. The number of days spent in Denmark determines whether someone working abroad should pay Danish taxes.

“The information that was sent to the Justice Ministry in the autumn of 2009 regarding conveyance (Ed: to joint ownership) to my husband of our house has shown itself not to be precise. It was a careless mistake, which I, of course, regret,” Thorning-Schmidt writes, adding she will rectify the mistake.

“We will now send the final tally of my husband’s stays in Denmark. We will leave it up to the Justice Ministry’s overall evaluation of the information provided as to whether the Justice Ministry’s previous decision will be affected,” Thorning-Schmidt says.