Angela Rayner’s future in doubt as she admits she should have paid more tax: Live updates

Angela Rayner’s political future appears in the hands of Sir Laurie Magnus, the Prime Minister’s Independent Adviser on Ministerial Standards.

Ms Rayner said she will be provide the ethics adviser with her ‘fullest co-operation and access to all the information he requires’.

Sir Laurie will rule on whether Ms Rayner breached standards.

Any breach will surely place her political future in doubt after she was considered among the frontrunners to become a future Labour Party leader.

Pressed on whether she had considered standing down, she said she had ‘spoken to my family about it’ and ‘the number one priority for me and my ex-husband has always been to support our children and do the best thing for our children’.

Prior to last year’s general election, the Tories urged HMRC to investigate Ms Rayner over whether she had paid enough tax after selling her former council home almost a decade earlier.

It came following a Mail on Sunday’s exclusive investigation which suggested she could have been liable for up to £3,000 capital gains tax after the house was sold for £48,500 profit.

But HMRC were understood to have looked into the matter at Ms Rayner’s request and concluded there was no capital gains tax liability.

The Prime Minister insisted he was ‘proud’ to sit alongside Angela Rayner as he faced calls to sack the Deputy Prime Minister from Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch at Prime Minister’s Questions.

Sir Keir said in response:

(Ms Rayner) has explained her personal circumstances in detail. She’s gone over and above in setting out the details, including yesterday afternoon asking a court to lift the confidentiality order in relation to her own son.

I know from speaking at length with the Deputy Prime Minister, just how difficult that decision was for her and her family, but she did it to ensure that all the information is in the public domain.

I can be clear, I am very proud to sit alongside a Deputy Prime Minister who is building 1.5 million homes, who is bringing the biggest upgrade to workers’ rights for a generation, and has come from a working class background to be Deputy Prime Minister.

Ms Rayner has released a statement confirming she is working with HMRC and lawyers to ensure she pays the correct amount of stamp duty.

In a statement, she said:

When purchasing the property my understanding, on advice from lawyers, was that my circumstances meant I was liable for the standard rate of stamp duty.

However, given the recent allegations in the press I have subsequently sought further advice from a leading tax counsel to review that position and to ensure I am fully compliant with all tax provisions.

I have now been advised that although I did not own any other property at the time of the purchase, 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.

Shadow chancellor Mel Stride is the latest Conservative to attack Ms Rayner following her admission on not paying enough stamp duty.

Mr Stride said it was ‘utterly extraordinary’ Ms Rayner failed to correctly pay the right amount of taxes as families are hit by ‘Labour’s tax hikes’.

Angela Rayner has been dubbed ‘Three Pads’ Rayner following her purchase of a flat in Hove.

She is said to have saved £40,000 in stamp duty on the apartment because she removed her name from the deeds of a family property in her constituency of Ashton-under-Lyne in Greater Manchester.

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

But the Hove flat is not her ‘main residence’ for council tax purposes, with the Ashton-under-Lyne home remaining her primary residence.

This is said to save some £2,000 in council tax on her third home, a three-bedroom grace-and-favour flat in Admiralty House.

Here’s what Angela Rayner said about the then Conservative Party chairman Nadhim Zahawi who resigned over a tax error in January 2023.

Kemi Badenoch has asked Sir Keir Starmer why Angela Rayner is still in office following her admission on underpaying stamp duty.

In response to the Conservative leader, Sir Keir said Ms Rayner has gone ‘over and above’ setting out the detail of her tax affairs which he said included asking a court to lift a confidentiality order relating to her son yesterday.

The Prime Minister adds he’s proud to sit beside Rayner who has risen from a ‘working class background’ to Deputy Prime Minister.

Earlier, Ms Rayner took her seat on the frontbench and received a hug from Commons Leader Lucy Powell before the session started.

Angela Rayner was in tears as she admitted she hadn’t paid enough stamp duty on a property she purchased a £800,000 property in Hove.

She was reported to have saved £40,000 in stamp duty on the flat because she removed her name from the deeds of a family property in her Ashton-under-Lyne constituency, meaning the Hove property is the only property she owns.

She told Sky’s Electoral Dysfunction podcast:

I’ve been in shock, really, because I thought I’d done everything properly, and I relied on the advice that I received and I’m devastated because I’ve always upheld the rules and always have felt proud to do that.

That it is devastating for me and the fact that the reason why those confidential clauses were in place was to protect my son, who, through no fault of his own, he’s vulnerable, he’s got this life-changing, lifelong conditions and I don’t want him or anything to do with his day-to-day life, to be subjected to that level of scrutiny.

Here’s our breaking news story on Angela Rayner following the Deputy Prime Minister’s admission she underpaid stamp duty on her second home.

Ms Rayner admitted her error during an interview with Sky News which emerged this morning.

Stick with us for more developments and reaction with Prime Minister’s Questions about to take place.

Hello and welcome to the Daily Mail’s live blog as Angela Rayner admits she did not pay enough stamp duty on her second home and has considered resigning.

The Deputy Prime Minister said that she has referred herself to the independent adviser on ministerial standards.

Ms Rayner said she had received inaccurate tax advice and had spoken to her family about quitting.

The Housing Secretary has been under intense pressure over her tax affairs after media reports about her purchase of a flat in Hove.