Angela Rayner has resigned as deputy prime minister over the underpayment of stamp duty on a flat she bought this year in Hove.
An independent ethics probe into Ms Rayner’s tax affairs found she “did not heed the caution” in legal advice she received when buying the £800,000 flat.
Independent ethics adviser Sir Laurie Magnus said in his letter: “She believed that she relied on the legal advice she had received, but unfortunately did not heed the caution contained within it, which acknowledged that it did not constitute expert tax advice and which suggested that expert advice be sought.
“I am conscious of the acute challenges ministers face – perhaps uniquely – in managing the demands of their personal lives and their public responsibilities.
“However, the responsibility of any taxpayer for reporting their tax returns and settling their liabilities rests ultimately with themselves.”
Ms Rayner has told the Prime Minister in a letter that “I deeply regret my decision to not seek additional specialist tax advice” and took “full responsibility for this error” as she resigned as deputy prime minister, housing secretary and deputy leader of the Labour Party.
One minister conceded on Friday morning there was “frustration” about the investigation process, and said it would be a “good thing” for the Government if the probe concluded quickly.
It comes as lawyers she blamed for her stamp duty underpayment denied having given her tax advice.
The advice she received is likely to form a key plank of Sir Laurie’s investigation, after Ms Rayner said she was incorrectly advised that she did not need to pay the higher stamp duty rate reserved for second home purchases.
Sources close to Ms Rayner said a conveyancer and two experts in trust law had all suggested the amount of stamp duty she paid on the East Sussex property was correct and she acted on the advice she was given at the time.
But the conveyancing firm, Verrico and Associates, on Thursday said its lawyers “never” gave Ms Rayner tax advice and were being made “scapegoats”.
In a statement, managing director Joanna Verrico said: “We’re not qualified to give advice on trust and tax matters and we advise clients to seek expert advice on these.”
The founder of the small high street firm, based in Herne Bay, Kent, said it completed her stamp duty return “based on the figures and the information provided by Ms Rayner”.
Ms Rayner referred herself for an ethics investigation on Wednesday, admitting that she had not paid enough stamp duty on the purchase of the £800,000 flat.
She said she had initially been advised that she was not liable for the second property surcharge because she had sold her stake in her family home in Ashton-under-Lyne to a court-instructed trust established in 2020 to benefit her disabled son.
But she conceded she had made a “mistake” after fresh legal advice from a “leading tax counsel” later revealed that she was liable for the extra duty on her new Hove flat.
Before then, she had insisted for weeks that she had paid the correct amount of tax.
The independent ethics adviser will assess whether Ms Rayner broke the ministerial rules, which place an “overarching duty on ministers to comply with the law”, “behave in a way that upholds the highest standards of propriety”, and “be as open as possible” with the public.
Meanwhile, the leader of Brighton and Hove City Council has called vandalism outside Angela Rayner’s flat “vile, sexist criminal damage”.
On Thursday morning, the words “bitch” and “tax evader” had been daubed on the wall outside the Deputy Prime Minister’s seaside flat in Hove.
The council has since painted over the damage, although when workers first went to do so on Thursday afternoon they were berated by local residents.
Labour’s Brighton and Hove city council leader Bella Sankey said: “I’m disgusted by the vile, sexist, criminal damage targeting our Deputy Prime Minister in the city.
“I am glad the police are investigating this criminal act. There is no place for intimidation and toxic misogyny in Brighton and Hove.”
She shouldn’t quit Labour are doing a brilliant job. Immigration down. Economy booming. Crime down. Homelessness non existent. We all feel richer with bills down and more money in our pockets. A sad day
I am sorry to see her go but wish her all the best going forward. She made such a fundamental error that her position in the Government had become untenable. I am surprised that she has also resigned as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party as she still has so much to offer. A salutary lesson in tax avoidance schemes. Perhaps Nigel and his lap dog are now re-evaluating their own tax arrangements? Probably not as brazen-necked as they are.
Ms Rayner fully deserves to lose her job over her idiotic attempts to dodge £40,000 stamp duty. It’s not just about the greed, the lies and the hypocrisy. It’s about the rank stupidity of this behaviour disqualifying her from the second most powerful job in the country by demonstrating she has no judgement. Funny how Labour have taken over in arrogance and the belief that they can do whatever they like and rules only apply to the plebs. All the faults they used to accuse the Tories of, they have become the new masters of. Almost like a tribute act to the Tories.
Didn’t we already establish this was something quite easy to miss, Elaine? If people lost their jobs every time they made a mistake, I’d have had to switch careers half a dozen times over, and you’d be destitute by now!
Sad news. Hope you still get more council flats and benefits increases now! Why I voted for them
The good news, at least, is that this doesn’t affect Brighton’s house-building strategy much, which has been pretty steady over the last several years now.
TBH I expect this was a legitimate mistake but it’s right she goes anyway. MPs need to be seen to be held to a higher standard. Its a pity Cabinet loses a high ranking working class woman though because most of parliament seems to be privately educated old men.
Where’s Benjamin? I’m sure he’ll be along to defend AR shortly. After all it was only a small error of £40k buying a second (or was it a third) home. Clearly the beloved party’s position on fair taxation and the housing crisis doesn’t apply to its own members.
Well, only because I don’t want to disappoint one of my darling fans!
Not much to defend here as the new information and the investigation says she had the advice she needed, which was a nuance we didn’t know yesterday. Was it an error in judgement or maliciousness, that’s only for Angela to know. Billy pretty much sums up my own thoughts very articulately.
As much as I have the honoured title of attack poodle, it’s more about pragmatism than anything, and challenging weak ideas. The emotive tends to come from one direction more than the other, hence the lean.
Thank you Benjamin. You never disappoint.
My ex might disagree with you!
The scary thing about this story is just how fast they can come for you.
As a public figure it takes just one mistake to bring you down, but part of that is also about the orchestrated bullying which comes – usually from the right-wing press or from others who have something to gain from your downfall.
Angela Rayner did something wrong and, mitigating circumstances or not, she has done the right thing and resigned. We have to wonder what would have happened had another known person had been in the same circumstances. To me, it felt that the press were coming for Rayner from the start. Is that because she’s a strong woman? Or because of her accent?
But in this case, a national frenzy of bullying took over, and the mob actions included graffiti on the outside of Rayner’s Hove flat.
Angela Rayner’s tax shortfall will of course be paid, and some other news story will quickly take over the headline frenzy.
But the sad truth is just how quickly these media storms blow in nowadays. We have to wonder which politician or celebrity they will come for next.
Indeed, should I be frightened of even typing this? Nowadays it just takes one misplaced tweet or ill-judged facebook post and you can be cancelled.
Spot on. The baying hounds will soon be fighting over the next piece of gristle. Poor woman’s mental health must be quite affected. Stay strong Ms Rayner, your time is not finished..look at Peter Mandelson.
Actually it doesn’t require an error or mistake, errant media owners accomplish no end of trouble for anyone in their target zone, the mistakes just makes them a better sales target
I see in one of the tabloids they reckon the value of her Ashton House was inflated by approx £100k ( compared with other local propertues) so when she sold her 25% stake in it to her child’s trust fund it enhanced her return to £ 162500 ( her deposit on her Hove residence)
I hope she can afford her new mortgage sitting on the back benches…still there’s always Lord Ali
Considering an MP’s salary, I’m not concerned.
But if she couldn’t ..would you be ?
If she couldn’t afford a mortgage on an MPs salary, I’d be concerned.
Great that she has gone! A shame the people of Hove will have to put up with the stench from her ginger growler!
You can criticize her without being a misogynist you know
You assume I am male!
Classic doubling down. Doesn’t matter who says it – misogyny is misogyny.
Perhaps she can pull off a Mandelson in time ?