Deputy PM Angela Rayner has referred herself to the independent adviser on ministerial standards after admitting she didn’t pay enough tax on a second home
Angela Rayner has admitted she should have paid more tax on her second home and spoke to her family about resigning as Deputy Prime Minister.
In a bombshell interview, Keir Starmer’s deputy said she has referred herself to the independent adviser on ministerial interests. She also confirmed she will pay any unpaid stamp duty requested by HMRC on her £800,000 seaside flat in Hove, in East Sussex.
Ms Rayner said she has tried to “do the right thing” but that the legal advice she relied on has turned out to be wrong.
Asked whether she considered resigning, the Cabinet minister told Sky News: “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.”
Ms Rayner – who is also the Housing Secretary – has come under fire in recent days over her tax arrangements following the purchase of a seaside flat in Hove.
The Tories have called for Ms Rayner to face an ethics inquiry after reports she saved £40,000 in stamp duty because she removed her name from the deeds of a family property in her Ashton-under-Lyne constituency. This means she did not have to pay a higher rate of tax for second homes on the Hove flat.
Pressed on accusations she didn’t pay enough stamp duty, Ms Rayner said: “They are accurate. Yes. They’re accurate in a different sense. I think the accusations were that I set up a trust and I flipped it to try and avoid paying it. But actually the complex area of the trust which the advice that I relied upon didn’t pick that up.
“The leading tax counsel who has subsequently looked at it has gone into that and said that actually, because of that, it did remain my sole property and the trust wasn’t set up as accusations have been made for me to try and flip… dodge tax.”
Pressed on whether she could carry on in government, she replied: ” Well, I made a mistake based upon the advice that I relied upon that I received at the time, and a leading expert has now said that advice was wrong.
“I think hopefully most people can see, if you take, if you rely on advice given to you by lawyers and you follow that process and then you find out that that process is wrong and that advice is wrong, I’m rectifying it at the earliest opportunity.
“People make mistakes, but I conducted myself in trying to do the right thing, and I hope that people can see that.”
On Monday, Keir Starmer threw his weight behind Ms Rayner – and warned critics it’s a “mistake” to talk her down. The PM defended his deputy, who grew up in poverty and became a mum at 16, saying she was a “great story of British success”.
“Angela came from a very humble background, battled all sorts of challenges along the way, and there she is proudly – and I’m proud of her – as our Deputy Prime Minister,” Mr Starmer said. “Angela has had people briefing against her and talking her down over and over again. It’s a mistake.”