Angela Rayner resigns after admitting she did not pay enough tax

Angela Rayner has resigned as deputy prime minister and housing secretary after admitting she did not pay enough tax on her second home.

She has also quit as deputy leader of the Labour Party, an elected post.

Sir Keir Starmer’s second-in-command admitted to Sky News political editor Beth Rigby on the Electoral Dysfunction podcast on Wednesday she should have paid the higher rate of stamp duty on a home she bought in Hove, East Sussex, as it was her second property.

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Her resignation means Sir Keir is now carrying out a reshuffle of his cabinet. The only minister whose job is guaranteed to remain is Chancellor Rachel Reeves.

Ms Rayner quit on Friday after Sir Laurie Magnus, the prime minister’s standards adviser, found she had breached the ministerial code after she referred herself to him on Wednesday.

Sir Laurie’s letter said it is “deeply regrettable” Ms Rayner did not seek out the specific tax advice initially and he believes she acted “with integrity and with a dedicated and exemplary commitment to public service”.

However, he said her “unfortunate failure” to settle her stamp duty liability, coupled with the fact this was only established after “intensive public scrutiny” has led him to conclude “with deep regret” she has breached the ministerial code.

Strain on my children ‘unbearable’

In a letter to Sir Keir announcing her resignation, Ms Rayner said the strain her three children have been put through by her remaining in post has “become unbearable” and she “deeply” regrets her decision to not seek additional specialist tax advice.

She previously said lawyers had told her she did not have to pay second home stamp duty on her Hove flat but after media reports said she had underpaid by £40,000 she sought out further legal counsel, which found it could not be counted as a second home.

“I would like to take this opportunity to repeat that it was never my intention to do anything other than pay the right amount,” she wrote.

“For a teenage mum from a council estate in Stockport to serve at the highest level of government has been the honour of my life.

“The challenges of government are nothing compared to the challenge of putting food on the table and getting a roof over our head when I brought up kids working as a home help.

“Every day I had in office, I worked to serve working class communities like the one that I grew up in, which are
too often overlooked by those in power.

“I am proud that in every decision I made, I did it for them. I would never have become deputy prime minister if not for the decisions taken by the last Labour government, giving me a council house to support me, Sure Start to help raise my kids, and the security of a minimum wage – and I can only hope that the changes I made in government will have the same impact for young girls growing up on council estates like I did.”

Starmer ‘very sad’

Sir Keir replied to Ms Rayner, saying he is “very sad” at her resignation.

“You have been a trusted colleague and a true friend for many years. I have nothing but admiration for you and huge respect for your achievement in politics,” he said in a handwritten letter.

“Even though you won’t be part of the government, you will remain a major figure in our party. I know you will continue to fight for the causes you care so passionately about.”

Party leaders react

Political leaders from other parties wasted no time in reacting to Ms Rayner’s resignation.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, seconds after it was announced, released a video saying Ms Rayner’s position had been “untenable for days” and it was only because of Sir Keir’s “weakness that she wasn’t sacked three days ago”.

She claimed it was because of the Conservatives the episode was investigated and asked what Sir Keir knew and when, and did he mislead the public.

Ms Badenoch noted Sir Keir has now lost a deputy prime minister, a transport secretary (Louise Haigh), an anti-corruption minister (Tulip Siddiq) and a homelessness minister (Rushanara Ali) – and said that is a distraction.

Nigel Farage, who brought forward his Reform conference speech to react to Ms Rayner’s resignation, said her not paying enough stamp duty “screams to entitlement”.

“It screams to a government that, despite all the promises that this would be a new, different kind of politics is as bad, if not worse, than the one that went before,” he said.

The Reform leader added that he thinks the internal election for deputy Labour leader will show up splits in the party.

“There’ll be Labour MPs that reckon they’ve got a better chance on the Jeremy Corbyn sectarian ticket because frankly that’s what’s going on in our country – we have sectarian politics emerging. I loathe it,” he said.