Angela Rayner 'treated very differently' because of her 'accent and background', minister claims

The Deputy PM has been under intense pressure over her tax affairs after reports she underpaid stamp duty on a seaside flat she bought.

Peter Kyle MP has defended Ms Rayner on Tonight with Andrew Marr saying: "Just because it is Angela, with her accent and her background, people are treating her in a way they wouldn't, that if a Tory MP who was born in wealth had a second home, which many of them do already."

The Housing Secretary was reported to have saved £40,000 in stamp duty on the flat because she removed her name from the deeds of a family property in her Ashton-under-Lyne constituency, meaning the Hove property is the only property she owns.

In a statement, she said she had taken legal advice when she bought the flat, which suggested she was "liable to pay standard stamp duty" but later sought "further advice from a leading tax counsel" following headlines about the arrangement.

She learned the initial advice had been inaccurate and she was indeed liable to pay additional stamp duty.

That is because she had put her stake in her constituency home in Ashton into a trust set up in 2020 for her disabled son.

Tax experts said the Hove property could not be treated as her only residence because of the nature of the trust.

The Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology said he sees Rayner "being treated very differently to lots of other people."

"Whatever walk of life you're in, public life or not, you should be free to live and spend your spare time wherever you please. 

"It is right that somebody from Angela's background should be as aspirational as anyone else about having somewhere that she spends on a Sunday or in her spare time or in the school holidays, so she can spend time with her kids as anyone else.

"Just because it is Angela, with her accent and her background, people are treating her in a way they wouldn't, that if a Tory MP who was born in wealth had a second home, which many of them do already."

When probed by Marr on the fact that many people have complicated private lives and that doesn't give anyone a "free pass" to not pay tax, Mr Kayle agreed.

He said: "Completely Right. That is why Angela is being totally upfront.

"That is why Angela took legal advice, but I think all of us would rely on legal advice for which you have sought out, for which you have paid for and is done by a qualified lawyer that you expect. 

"Now, this is now subject to investigation, so we both have to be very careful about how we talk about this. 

"But she took legal advice and it is the basis of the legal advice that is in question here, not Angela's actions."

Mr Kyle refused to say whether she should be sacked if found to have broken the ministerial code.

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Tory leader Kemi Badenoch called for the Deputy Prime Minister to be sacked amid accusations of hypocrisy as ministers may be considering property tax rises in the autumn Budget.

Ms Badenoch said: "I remember when the Prime Minister said tax evasion is a criminal offence, and should be treated as all other fraud. If he had a backbone, he would sack her."

Asked whether she had considered resigning, Ms Rayner told Sky's Electoral Dysfunction podcast she had "spoken to my family about it" and that she had "been in shock, really, because I thought I'd done everything properly, and I relied on the advice that I received, and I'm devastated because I've always upheld the rules and always have felt proud to do that".