This is not a good look for the Deputy Prime Minister – politicalbetting.com
This is not a good look for the Deputy Prime Minister – politicalbetting.com
Angela Rayner has admitted that she underpaid stamp duty on her £800,000 seaside flat, after coming under intense pressure to be more transparent about her property arrangements.
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And of course, she was always first out the gates when the Tories did anything slightly dodgy.
One thing that seems crazy in his day and age is that you can register to vote in 3 different places and its just trusted that you don't abuse that. I am not suggesting she has or would, just that you can, and that the fact you can do this to aid your claims to your tax situation seems mental.
It is the hypocrisy that gets them
@Keir_Starmer
I won't shy away from decisions to protect kids, even if there are the predictable cries of nanny state.
We're stopping shops from selling high-caffeine energy drinks to under 16s, so they can turn up to school ready to learn."
https://x.com/Keir_Starmer/status/1963137900167774466
Reeves will be a lot more smiley this week then.
Rayner is done, even if she survives the ethics probe shes burned all her capital with her colleagues who've been defending her like some poor wounded kitten
She probably can ride it out if she wants to/Starmer is keen to keep her, but it causes reputational/image issues that the government really didn’t need right now.
Do we have any tax experts in here to explain how the trust effected this ?
In her position it would have been prudent to consult a trust lawyer but she probably didn’t think of it
“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.”
- the trust owns the house
- The (minor) children are the beneficiaries
- I assume she is a settlor
- The children have a right of lifetime occupation
- She has an agreement with her ex-husband that she will live there full time part of the year to care for the children
- Therefore she is deemed to have an interest in another property
- Which, it seems, is sufficient to trip the second property rules for stamp duty purposes
Stange this has been released just before PMQs
It certainly re-enforces the widely held notion of political corruption - the “they’re all at it” syndrome.
I’m struggling to see active malfeasance to use an American term. I do see confusion and poor advice and I’m sympathetic to the situation with her son.
She certainly has to pay the correct amount of owed tax and make her own contribution to reducing the deficit but is it a resigning issue? Only if she takes the view her financial affairs are an unnecessary distraction to what the Government is trying to achieve.
She is being very unfair her lawyers (a sentence I never thought I would write)
His voice has been a little tremulous lately, though still as tenacious as ever when questioning guests.
They'll probably have Rylan in as a replacement.
https://x.com/bbcpress/status/1963181324463640667
At the very very least she cannot continue in the housing role as she is clearly incompetent if corruption is ruled out
If there was anything that I thought was going on that could cause confusion in my tax affairs I’d probably want something in writing from HMRC telling me it was all OK.
If Kemi had asked questions, Starmer would have to defend Angela or sack her. The only other option would be “she is going to make a statement this afternoon” which would lead to lots of pressure on him.
This defangs Kemi’s attack lines
This on the face of it looks like a genuine mistake and if she has written confirmation of the wrong advice then she should release that .
I presume (not being a lawyer familiar with trusts) that the legal issue here is that she continued to have an implied interest in the property in question as she was living in it & not paying market rent?
Had she simply transferred the property to her husband in the divorce then presumably none of this would have mattered?
(It also sounds like Raynor’s child might be yet another victim of the appalling state of NHS maternity care we talked about earlier, but for obvious reasons they’ve tried to keep that a private family matter.)
Behind the earlier imrovement is also demographics - the rising number of children from Asian parents who take education more seriously (a particular factor behind the London improvement) - and the LibDems' focus on disadvantaged children and schools during the coalition.
“ But Starmer says he is “proud” to sit beside Rayner, who is building 1.5m homes and has come from a working class background to be deputy PM.”
Though he'd have to be pretty foolish to not realise that, if you destroy all your rivals so you can take the leadership, the party won't be worth leading.
Boris did a version of that, and the Conservatives might never recover.
https://www1.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2025/08/24/is-angela-rayner-about-to-experience-the-wrath-of-khan/
Im sure thousands will be relieved that any issue uncovered by HMRC etc can be waved away with this defence.
lack of reasonable care - the penalty will be between 0% and 30% of the extra tax due
deliberate - the penalty will be between 20 and 70% of the extra tax due
deliberate and concealed - the penalty will be between 30 and 100% of the extra tax due
Standing down at the next election to spend more time with her new tax advisers.
Okay, my housing wealth started with me buying a house in London in 2000 but still.
Admittedly not many people can afford that arrangement, but having to pay 2nd home stamp duty on the new place(s) will mean even fewer can afford it.
If Starmer survives until the next general election and Burnham is elected as an MP again at that election then Burnham would be ahead of Streeting I suspect
I mean if it were corruption she would be gone as an MP and facing prosecution, if a 'thick as mince' issue then her career is at high risk, as it should be as 'housing' minister
All the public will see is she avoided £40,000, which is more than plenty of them earn.
Tax law is bloomin' complicated and she says she took legal advice which now seems to be wrong.
“...A trust in favour of child can deem the parents as still owning the property.”
All I know about trusts is that they’re a legal nightmare & you need to be taking professional advice any time you go anywhere near them. Worse, you can create the things accidentally without realising, exposing you to all kinds of fun liabilities.
(Edit: also, that segment of law is written in the most tortuous legalese. There’s no way an ordinary person can be expected to make sense of it.)
Was it to decide herself what was owed and pay it?
Was it to present the HMRC with the facts and then pay what they assess (subject to the usual appeals)?
Also
Is it possible to be culpable and punishable (more than having to cough up payment with interest) if you have taken professional advice on the full facts - and can demonstrate what that advice was - but ultimately that advice was incorrect?
None of this will assist or condemn Rayner because this is politics, but morally these seem to me the interesting questions.
Anyway, hopefully this will be the toxic catalyst for actually binning stamp duty once and for all. I live in faint hope that Reeves, with nothing to lose, will actually deliver a transformative budget in - checks calendar - November.