UK Deputy PM Angela Rayner admits underpaying property tax

London, Sep 3 (PTI) Britain’s Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary, Angela Rayner, on Wednesday admitted underpaying tax on a new home she recently bought on the south coast of England after receiving incorrect legal advice.

Her admission followed weeks of intense media coverage over the stamp duty tax owed by the senior Cabinet minister, who has now referred herself to Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s independent ethics adviser to probe if she broke the ministerial code of conduct.

Starmer, meanwhile, came out in full support of his deputy during the weekly Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) in the House of Commons even as the Opposition Conservatives demanded her sacking.

“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,” Rayner said in a statement, which revealed the provisions of a family home held in trust with her ex-husband to care for their disabled son.

“The arrangements I have set out reflect the reality that family life is rarely straightforward, particularly when dealing with disability, divorce, and the complexities of ensuring your children’s long-term security. Every decision I have made has been guided by what I believe to be in my children’s best interests,” she said.

Rayner, who is also the Secretary of State of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, said she “deeply regretted” the error and is working with the tax department to pay the additional payment due on the home she bought in Hove on mortgage in May.

Starmer told Parliament that Rayner had “gone over and above” by asking a court to lift the confidentiality order in relation to her son.

“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,” he said.

However, the admission unleashes turmoil at the top of his government just days after he attempted to step into a new Parliament session after the summer recess with a refresh and shake-up of his key aides at 10 Downing Street.

“I remember when the Prime Minister said that tax evasion is a criminal offence and should be treated as all other fraud. If he had a backbone, he would sack her,” Opposition Leader Kemi Badenoch said in the Commons.

“Her [Rayner's] credibility is in tatters, she’s dodged questions all summer, her actions reek of hypocrisy. Starmer is too weak to kick her out,” James Cleverly, her Conservative Party colleague and shadow housing secretary, told ‘The Daily Telegraph’ – the newspaper which had first raised doubts over the Deputy Prime Minister's tax payment over the new home.

Under the stamp duty requirements for home-buyers in England, anyone buying a second property is expected to pay an additional surcharge. Rayner had initially classified her new seaside flat in Hove as a primary residence, which would be subject to only the basic rate of stamp duty.

However, given the additional family home held in trust for her son, she owes an estimated 40,000 pounds more to the tax authorities than previously calculated.

Sir Laurie Magnus, the UK PM’s Independent Adviser on Ministerial Standards, will now decide whether and/or to what degree Rayner may have breached the code that applies to all ministers.

His report, expected in the coming weeks, will determine if Rayner can hold on to the second most powerful post in the UK government. PTI AK SCY SCY