South Thanet MP Craig Mackinlay has been rebuked by a standards watchdog over his failure to register his involvement in an airline after becoming an MP.

The Parliamentary commissioner said he had been in breach of rules that any shareholding over 15% in a company, or if that shareholding is under 15% but has a value of more than £70,000, needed to be registered as a financial interest.

The complaint relates to non-disclosure of a company, Mama Airlines Limited and whether it was relevant to disclose during proceedings regarding the Manston airport site.

Mr Mackinlay has apologised for the omission but says the company had never traded and was dormant. He also said the rules should be changed for such companies.

The company was founded by the MP when there was interest in Manston being used for a service to Malaga but never ‘got off the ground’, with the events of 9/11 preventing any further progress or interest.

The MP said he had never made any money from the company.

“Despite its name, the dormant company is no more an airline than it is a sweet shop,” he said.

In a statement, he said: “Not in my wildest dreams did I think, through any common-sense interpretation of the rules, that a dormant company, a mere incorporation of an idea some 17 years old would require registration.”

He added the rules governing when MPs should disclose interests in such companies were perverse.

“If a member has a shareholding of under 15% in a company and it is worth £69,999, quite perversely in my view, it does not require registration. I have made suggestions as part of the closure of this investigation that a sensible de-minimis should be incorporated into any new rules as I am sure they were never intended to encompass such an insignificant shareholding in a company that has never traded.”

“I will continue speak up for an aviation future for Manston as much as I am able, not least as, despite the passage of time, it is an industry that I understand and have, albeit historic, knowledge of.”