ANGELA Rayner was last night blasted as having no excuse for failing to pay the taxman £40,000 in stamp duty.
The Deputy PM was clinging to her job after confessing the on her £800,000 Hove seafront flat.
Deputy PM Angela Rayner, who is clinging to her job, claims she was given bad tax advice
Embattled Rayner was recently pictured kayaking near her seafront property
PM Sir Keir Starmer is so far sticking by his right-hand woman, who is also the Housing Secretary 10 QUESTIONS SHE MUST ANSWER
- When did you realise you hadn’t paid the right amount of stamp duty?
- When did you inform the PM about paying too little tax? Did it come before or after he told the BBC you were the victim of a smear campaign which would have meant the PM gave a misleading answer?
- Which law firm advised you to pay the lower stamp duty rate? Were they property tax experts? If not, why not?
- Was this original legal team in possession of the full facts to offer the correct advice?
- Will you now publish the inaccurate advice so the public can see how you were misadvised?
- Did you actively aim to avoid paying additional stamp duty by ensuring you had no interest in your constituency home?
- Did you ever seek advice from government lawyers or inform your department about stamp duty issue?
- Are you certain you have paid the correct amount of council tax on your constituency and grace-and- favour homes, and seaside flat in Hove?
- Did the court order stop you from revealing details about your property affairs, or did you hide behind that?
- If the ethics probe finds you breached the ministerial code, will you resign?
Embattled Rayner, recently pictured kayaking near the seafront property, yesterday finally opened up about her murky finances after
In she said she had made an error which she “deeply regrets”, and had considered resigning.
She to the who will now determine whether Ms Rayner broke ministerial rules over the purchase of her £800,000 flat in Hove, near Brighton.
is so far sticking by his right-hand woman, who is also the Housing Secretary.
However Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said the PM would , while Labour MPs privately warned she is “toast”.
‘Endless list of excuses’
The Hove purchase earned the Deputy PM the nickname “” as it came on top of her constituency home in Greater Manchester and her grace-and-favour flat in central London.
Her main defence on her stamp duty underpayment was that she received flawed advice by a tax expert.
But Shadow Housing Secretary said: “Angela Rayner’s endless list of excuses simply do not stack up.
“It is simply not good enough to plead ignorance with something as serious as this.
“Either she didn’t take proper advice, or is not being honest about how she conducted her affairs.
“This scandal has gone too far.
“The minister responsible for homes cannot be facing an investigation for serious concerns around taxes on her own homes.”
Before buying the Hove property, Ms sold her stake in the family home at Ashton-under-Lyne, though it is still listed as her primary residence.
This meant she avoided stumping up the full £70,000 in second-home stamp duty.
She is said to have paid £30,000 instead.
For the Hove purchase, she used £160,000 from a trust established to care for her disabled son, who was awarded compensation by the NHS in 2020 after his premature birth, the Telegraph reported last night.
After following days of speculation, Ms Rayner yesterday broke cover in a podcast interview to confess she did not pay enough stamp duty.
Designating Ashton-under-Lyne as her primary residence means Ms Rayner saves £2,000 in council tax
The Deputy PM also has a grace-and-favour London flat
The government’s sleaze-buster will now determine whether Rayner broke ministerial rules over the purchase of her £800,000 flat in Hove
, she told Sky News’ Electoral Dysfunction: “I made a mistake based upon the advice I relied upon that I received at the time, and a leading expert has now said that advice was wrong.”
Ms Rayner explained that in 2023 she and her ex-husband transferred ownership of the family house to a trust set up to provide for their disabled son.
She insisted it remains their family home, saying: “It contains the majority of my possessions and it is where I am registered for most official and financial purposes ranging from credit cards to the dentist to the electoral roll.
“When I’m looking after the children, I go back to the family home.
“And then when my ex-husband is looking after children, he does.”
She said she sold her 25 per cent stake in the property to the trust and used it to buy the Hove flat in May.
You can’t have the cabinet minister responsible for housing admitting she didn’t pay enough tax when buying a home.
Party insider
She claimed lawyers had advised her that she did not have to pay a stamp duty surcharge due to her selling her stake.
However, after her property situation was exposed, she sought fresh legal counsel which said she should have paid the extra stamp duty.
Ms Rayner claimed this was “because of the nature of the trust that had been set up”.
She said she “deeply regrets” the “error” and promised to be transparent with ethics adviser Sir Laurie Magnus who has
She has promised to pay what she owes, which could include a hefty penalty.
Designating Ashton-under-Lyne as her primary residence also means Ms Rayner saves £2,000 in council tax on her London pad.
HER 'RESIGN' CALLS
By
ANGELA Rayner has been quick to call for political enemies to quit when scandals struck. Here’s a few…
“Nadhim Zahawi’s position is untenable. He must resign or be sacked.” She called for the ex-Chancellor to go after dodgy tax dealings and a failure to disclose HMRC investigations in 2023.
“He’s a disgrace. The whole government are. The whole government should hang their heads in shame.” Rayner demanded ex-Health Secretary Matt Hancock be axed over a Covid test and trace fiasco in 2020.
“This allegation is very serious for the Prime Minister. It’s a very simple question: ‘Were you there or not?’ If he was, then his position is untenable.” She wanted Boris Johnson to quit over Partygate in 2022.
“The Home Secretary is a serial offender with no regard for the ministerial code. It’s time the Prime Minister took away her ‘get out of jail free’ card.” She slammed ex-Home Secretary Priti Patel in 2021 after bullying claims emerged.
“This is yet another example of Rishi Sunak’s poor judgment and weak leadership.” Rayner criticised Mr Sunak in 2022 for giving Gavin Williamson a Cabinet role despite the PM knowing of bullying claims.
In a statement she said: “The application of complex deeming provisions which relate to my son’s trust gives rise to additional stamp duty liabilities.
“I acknowledge that due to my reliance on advice from lawyers which did not properly take account of these provisions, I did not pay the appropriate stamp duty at the time of the purchase.
“I am working with expert lawyers and with HMRC to resolve the matter and pay what is due.”
Tearful Angela Rayner admits she has not paid enough tax
Rayner is also understood to have been lobbying for more tax on homes at the upcoming Budget
She spoke out yesterday after the which she claimed had stopped her from being transparent earlier.
She also revealed she had considered stepping down, saying: “I spoke to my family about it.
“I spoke to my ex-husband, who has been an incredibly supportive person because he knows that all I’ve done is try and support my family and help them.”
ANALYSIS
By
ANGELA Rayner is certainly a hypocrite – and she could be a liar too.
The deputy PM spent days and days denying that she had on her Hove flat by a massive £40,000.
Her team said it was all a load of rubbish made up by the hostile press out to get her.
also leapt to her defence, claiming the bad headlines were the result of a sexist and classist “briefing war” against his No2.
Well turns out it was the politicians running Britain who were talking rubbish.
Angela has finally admitted she failed to pay enough tax, claiming she only clocked her error when getting a new tax adviser in to go through her bank statement.
Brits will – quite rightly – think she is a rank hypocrite.
Remember folks, this is a Labour politician who voted to while she was trying to cut her own tax bill.
Angela spent years attacking the Tories for being corrupt. She was quick to call for former Tory Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi to quit when it turned out he had .
But now she has been caught red handed doing the exact same thing she refuses to fall on her sword.
To borrow a phrase Angela herself likes to use – It is one rule for them and one for the rest of us.
There are still questions the deputy PM is refusing to answer: like when she first discovered she had not paid enough tax, and why her team so vehemently denied a story that .
I broke the story of her , and in the week and a half that has followed I have been combing through the deputy PM’s interests.
Her team has tried to dodge scrutiny at every turn – not returning calls or fully answering my questions.
Turns out she did have something to hide.
There are also huge questions for the PM to answer.
Keir Starmer’s spokesman is refusing to say when the PM found out Angela owed tax and – crucially – if he knew before he defended her publicly on Tuesday afternoon.
He must come clean and say exactly what he knew when.
It is frankly insulting that the PM accused journalists like me – who were trying to get to the bottom of – of peddling sexist briefings.
I don’t need any lessons in sexism from the PM.
Us journalists were trying to find out the truth.
Keir should be thanking us – the Treasury will have another £40,000 in the bank after our investigations.
Parliament’s ethics watchdog is now investigating Angela – we await to hear his findings.
But Ms Rayner climbed to the very top of by attacking sleaze and promising change.
Now she is mired in her own sleazy tax scandal, many would say Angela should do the right thing – and quit.
However last night Labour MPs reckoned she will have to go anyway, ending any
One told The Sun: “This week we should have been talking about free breakfasts for kids – but Angela’s toast instead.”
A party insider added: “You can’t have the cabinet minister responsible for housing admitting she didn’t pay enough tax when buying a home.”
Meanwhile, the Tories branded her a hypocrite after she spent years in opposition tearing into Tory sleaze.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch told the PM: ‘If he had a backbone, he would sack her.’
Ms Rayner called for ex-Tory Chancellor after he paid a penalty to HMRC as part of a multi-million pound tax settlement.
The Tory leader Ms Badenoch said at PMQs: “I remember when the Prime Minister said tax evasion is a criminal offence, and should be treated as all other fraud.
“If he had a backbone, he would sack her.”
Ms Rayner is also understood to have been lobbying for more tax on homes.
Sir Keir yesterday said he is “very proud to sit alongside” her in the Commons.
He said her move to refer herself to the independent ethics adviser was “the right thing to do”.
STAMP DUTY FEARS
A levy on stamp duty for those owning a second-home was brought in by the Tories in 2016 and then raised by Rachel Reeves at last year’s Budget to raise cash.
Fears are now growing that and council tax.
She is studying plans for a levy on houses worth over £500,000, according to reports.
The shake-up could pave the way for a new local levy to replace council tax, which is still based on 1990s property values.
