Angela Rayner is fighting to save her political career after confessing to dodging up to £40,000 in tax.
Kemi Badenoch urged Keir Starmer to grow a ‘backbone’ and sack his deputy after she finally admitted failing to pay the full stamp duty due on a luxury £800,000 second home in Hove.
Ms Rayner’s tearful confession ended days of bluster and misinformation by her office, Downing Street and Sir Keir about her tax affairs – and plunged Labour into its worst sleaze crisis since winning power last year.
The deputy PM apologised for her error, but former Tory Cabinet minister Dame Priti Patel said she was ‘only sorry that she was caught out’.
Dame Priti said: ‘Angela Rayner has been caught misleading the country over her property taxes. She clearly thinks there’s one rule for her and another rule for everyone else.’
A formal inquiry into whether Ms Rayner has broken the ministerial code is underway and she is also facing the prospect of an investigation by the taxman, which could land her with thousands of pounds in penalties.
She and Sir Keir were also accused of hypocrisy after railing against ‘tax dodgers’ for years in opposition. In 2023, Ms Rayner called for the Tory Cabinet minister Nadhim Zahawi to be sacked for unpaid tax.
In the Commons, Mrs Badenoch told Sir Keir: ‘I remember when the Prime Minister said that tax evasion was a criminal offence and ‘should be treated as all other fraud.
Mrs Badenoch called on Sir Keir to show a ‘backbone’ and sack his Deputy PM as they clashed at PMQs
Ms Rayner was supported by Sir Keir at Prime Minister’s Questions in the Commons this afternoon, as Tory leader Kemi Badenoch demanded her sacking
‘If he had a backbone, he would sack her.’
The PM claimed his deputy had ‘gone over and above in setting out the details’ of her opaque tax affairs and living arrangements.
Today allies were dispatched on to the airwaves to claim that Ms Rayner’s failure to pay her taxes was ‘not a story’ – and to accuse her critics of ‘misogyny’.
The PM is standing by Ms Rayner despite her admission – telling MPs he was ‘very proud’ to have her in his Cabinet.
Downing Street refused to say whether the PM knew she had failed to pay her taxes on Monday when he defended her and said her critics were making ‘a mistake’.
Former Tory Cabinet minister Sir James Cleverly said the PM appeared to be ‘too weak’ to sack his troublesome deputy, who had been the bookmakers’ favourite to succeed him.
‘Her credibility is in tatters, she’s dodged questions all summer, her actions reek of hypocrisy,’ he said. ‘But Starmer is too weak to kick her out.’
Nigel Farage said it was ‘more likely than not’ that Ms Rayner would have to quit this week, adding: ‘I just don’t see how you survive this.’
The Deputy Prime Minister said she ‘deeply regrets’ not paying enough stamp duty when purchasing her £800,000 apartment in Hove, East Sussex
Privately, some Labour MPs also questioned whether she could credibly stay in office.
Ms Rayner’s aides have spent days dismissing questions about her tax affairs following reports she bought an apartment in Hove, 260 miles from her Greater Manchester constituency.
As recently as Tuesday, the government claimed that suggestions she may not have paid her taxes in full were ‘entirely without basis’.
But, in a dramatic admission today, Ms Rayner confirmed she ‘did not pay the appropriate stamp duty’ on the property.
She claimed that she had followed ‘advice from lawyers’ that she was only due to pay the standards rate of stamp duty – estimated at around £30,000 – rather than the £70,000 the property would attract if bought as a second home.
But, following media reports, she ‘sought further advice from a leading tax counsel’ who found she had failed to pay the taxman what was due.
She added: ‘I deeply regret the error that has been made. I am committed to resolving this matter fully and providing the transparency that public service demands.’
In a tearful interview on Sky News she said she had followed her initial legal advice in good faith and had ‘never, ever tried to avoid tax’.
In a tearful TV interview, a ‘devastated’ Angela Rayner revealed she has referred herself to an ethics watchdog to investigate whether she had broken ministerial rules
She said she had not been able to speak out earlier because of a court order surrounding her child’s trust, which she succeeded in having lifted on Tuesday.
Sir Laurie Magnus, the PM’s independent adviser on standards, will now examine whether she broke the ministerial code. All ministers are required to ensure that ‘their tax affairs are up to date and that the arrangement of their affairs is consistent with their overarching duty to comply with the law’.
However, the final arbiter of the ministerial code is Sir Keir, who could decide to keep her in post even if she is found to have broken the code.
Ms Rayner is facing mounting questions over her conduct.
Ms Rayner appears to have told the taxman that the property in Hove is her main home while telling the Cabinet Office that her primary residence is her former family home 260 miles away in Greater Manchester.
When parliament is sitting she is thought to live mainly in a third property – a lavish grace and favour apartment in central London, funded by the taxpayer.
Today, she revealed that she sold her stake in her home in Ashton-under-Lyne to a trust set up to provide for the needs of her disabled son. Owning no other home, she believed advice that she would not have to pay the punitive rate of stamp duty levied on second homes, which was increased by Rachel Reeves last year.
But she said fresh legal advice revealed that the complex nature of the trust meant that this was not the case.
Tory shadow chancellor Sir Mel Stride said it was ‘utterly extraordinary’ that Ms Rayner had failed to pay enough tax on her property purchase
Dan Neidle, founder of the Tax Policy Associates think tank, suggested Ms Rayner could end up having to pay thousands of pounds more to HMRC
Allies of Ms Rayner rallied round her today.
Health secretary Wes Streeting said ‘mistakes happen’ and Ms Rayner should be allowed to keep her job.
Mr Streeting acknowledged it was a ‘fair question’ to ask about Ms Rayner’s hounding of Tory politicians over tax but said it would be an ‘absolute travesty’ if she had to resign.
He told the BBC: ‘She is a decent person, she is an honest woman, I genuinely think she has acted in good faith at every step of the way. This is a mistake but it is an honest mistake.’
Technology secretary Peter Kyle claimed Ms Rayner had been ‘treated very differently’ due to her ‘accent and her background’.
Former Labour frontbencher Thangam Debbonaire said the revelations that the Deputy prime Minister had failed to pay her taxes was ‘not a story’.
‘The story here is ‘woman buys flat and obeys advice of lawyers’,’ she said.
TUC boss Paul Nowak claimed criticism of Ms Rayner contained a ‘heavy dose of misogyny’.
He added: ‘The PM’s got faith in her and the country’s got faith in her, in my view.’
