Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has admitted she failed to pay the correct amount of tax on her second home purchase and has now referred herself to the Prime Minister’s independent ethics adviser.
The admission came after weeks of media scrutiny over her property arrangements and follows questions about whether she underpaid stamp duty when buying a house in Hove in 2023.
Speaking to Sky News’ Beth Rigby, Rayner gave a detailed explanation of the circumstances surrounding her divorce, her son’s needs, and the property transfer:
“In 2020, my son, had an award and a trust was set up by the court to deal with his finances as part of that award, with a legal trustee. And in 2023, when me and my husband divorced, the decision was because that home was adapted to support my son, who was lifelong disabilities as a result of that injury that occurred to him, that trust was set up and they decided that they would take on the property so that me and my husband could have a nest in arrangement where we could provide for my child in our family home, which is our family home and remains our family home. So when I’m looking after the children, I go back to the family home. And then when my ex-husband is looking after children, he does. And it was done primarily to support my son with his additional needs and to provide stability for them during the divorce. And that was the arrangement that we put in place.”
Rayner said she used her share of the equity to buy a new property with a mortgage and had initially paid only standard stamp duty on the advice of lawyers.
“Subsequently to that with all of the media reports that have been coming out, I took expert counsel advice on all of my affairs to ensure that everything was done proper and that expert counsel said that the advice that I received was inaccurate because of the trust. I don’t own the property. That is true. I only own one property that is mortgage like most people. But because of the nature of the trust that was set up by the court, that I would be liable to pay the additional stamp duty. As soon as I knew that that was the case, I have alerted and referred myself to the independent adviser on the ministerial code to ensure that they can look transparently at what has happened, and also contacted HMRC to say that, there is additional tax owing on this, and that I’m prepared to pay that and fully comply with the HMRC as well.”
The Deputy Prime Minister also admitted she had considered resigning:
“I spoke to my family about it. I spoke to my ex-husband, who has been an incredibly supportive person because he knows that all I’ve done is try and support my family and help them.”
Rayner appealed for public understanding:
“I made a mistake based upon the advice that I relied upon that I received at the time, and a leading expert has now said that advice was wrong. I think hopefully most people can see, if you take, if you rely on advice given to you by lawyers and you follow that process and then you find out that that process is wrong and that advice is wrong, I’m rectifying it at the earliest opportunity. People make mistakes, but I conducted myself in trying to do the right thing, and I hope that people can see that.”
Questions Over Pattern of Behaviour
Rayner insists she is acting transparently, but critics point to a pattern of behaviour where she has only admitted wrongdoing when presented with evidence.
She previously denied breaking Covid rules at a Durham gathering until video footage later emerged, and she has faced questions before about her declarations on property sales.
Her explanation now places blame on poor legal advice, but many ask whether an ordinary taxpayer would be treated so leniently.
Campaigners also note that she has registered at multiple addresses for voting purposes in the past, raising further questions about which home she considers her main residence.
For critics, this latest tax admission will do little to reassure the public that Britain’s second most senior politician is playing by the same rules as everyone else.
