Angela Rayner LIVE: Latest updates as Kirstie Allsopp and Labour minister weigh in on new stamp duty claims

In its manifesto for last year’s general election, Labour insisted it would not raise taxes on ‘working people’ – specifically income tax, national insurance or VAT.

But that pledge was made before Rachel Reeves was estimated by economists to be facing a £50billion ‘black hole’ in the public finances ahead of her next Budget.

This means there is now widespread expectation that the Chancellor will announce a fresh tax raid this autumn, as she scrambles to plug the spending gap.

There has been a flurry of reports in recent weeks about which levies the Labour party might impose – read all about them in this story:

TV housing expert Kirstie Allsopp – best known for presenting Channel 4’s Location, Location, Location – has had her say about the situation.

She tweeted: ‘Oh look, no one saw this coming!!! Angela Rayner dodges £40,000 stamp duty – This Government have NO shame, they imposed taxes on the rest of us but find ways not to pay them themselves.’

Government minister Stephen Kinnock has given a staunch defence of Angela Rayner, insisting the Deputy Prime Minister had acted ‘fully within the law’.

He told LBC: ‘The Deputy Prime Minister has made it absolutely clear she has done absolutely nothing wrong. I do wonder sometimes about some of the newspapers out there just seem to be sort of constantly looking to dig out stories.’

Mr Kinnock also dismissed a suggestion it was an example of ‘do as I say, not as I do’ from Ms Rayner.

‘As far as I can understand it, I’m not absolutely involved in it, of course, in the detailed discussions,’ he told presenter Nick Ferrari.

‘But my understanding from the statement that has come from the Deputy Prime Minister’s office is that she has done absolutely nothing wrong. Everything she has done is fully within the law.’

Pressed on whether there was any ‘stink’ to Ms Rayner’s actions, he added: ‘I am very clear, in terms of what the Deputy Prime Minister’s office has said, and what Angela is saying is clearly is that this is not an issue.

‘She has complied with the letter of the law and that is the situation as we find it today this morning.’

Here is what LBC presenter Nick Ferrari had to say about the story:

The latest claims against Angela Rayner come after The Mail On Sunday reported that she had added an £800,000 seaside apartment to her burgeoning property empire – at a time when her department is cracking down on second-home owners.

The story made the front page on August 24 – and you can read it in full here:

A former care worker and trade union representative, Angela Rayner describes herself as a ‘socialist, not a Corbynite’.

She left school at 16 years old while pregnant with no qualifications and later studied at college for qualifications in care work and sign language while looking after her young son.

The 45-year-old mother-of-three was elected to Parliament for Ashton-under-Lyne in 2015 and quickly rose from being a junior shadow minister to being appointed shadow education secretary in June 2016.

She has championed the party’s headline policy of free tuition fees and setting up a national education service to provide learning ‘from the cradle to the grave’.

In 2020 she became deputy leader of Labour and took a position as Deputy Prime Minister and Housing, Communities and Local Government Secretary after the party won the general election last year.

A spokesperson for Ms Rayner told The Telegraph: ‘The Deputy Prime Minister paid the correct duty owed on the purchase, entirely properly and in line with all relevant requirements. Any suggestion otherwise is entirely without basis.’

Her spokesperson has refused to reveal how much the cabinet minister had spent on stamp duty for the Hove flat, but they denied she had committed any wrongdoing.

The Daily Mail has contacted Ms Rayner and the Labour Party for comment.

Ms Rayner followed advice and longstanding rules at all times, and had paid the relevant tax required on the Hove property, sources close to the politician have said.

Sources also said she does pay the second-home council tax on her property in Hove, and that her living arrangements were due to working in several locations as a result of her role.

They also noted the Deputy Prime Minister has never owned in London, or nearby.

Angela Rayner is claimed to have dodged spending £40,000 on her coastal flat after saying it was her main place of residence to tax authorities.

The Deputy Prime Minister reportedly took her name off the deeds of her Greater Manchester property only weeks before purchasing an £800,000 coastal flat in Hove.

It comes after the Mail revealed the Labour housing secretary had purchased the apartment in addition to a £650,000 house she owns in her constituency and a three-bedroom grace-and-favour flat in Admiralty House.

The reported deed changes supposedly allowed the cabinet minister to pay £30,000 in stamp duty instead of £70,000, which would have been applied if the property was her second home.

Ms Rayner is also said to have told Tameside Council that her home situated in her constituency continues to be her primary residence.

Brighton and Hove council have also been notified by the politician that her property there is a second home, for the purposes of council tax, according to the Telegraph.

Ms Rayner’s alleged changes to her property affairs are legal, however, they may spark debate as to whether the housing secretary purposefully made decisions to pay less council tax and stamp duty.

Let’s start with a look at our top story on Angela Rayner, looking at the stamp duty claims against the Deputy Prime Minister:

Good morning and welcome to the Daily Mail’s live coverage following claims Angela Rayner dodged shelling out £40,000 on her coastal flat after saying it was her main place of residence to tax authorities.

The Deputy Prime Minister reportedly took her name off the deeds of her Greater Manchester property only weeks before purchasing an £800,000 coastal flat in Hove, East Sussex, according to The Telegraph.

Stay with us throughout today for all the latest updates on this developing story.