Angela Rayner faces possible sleaze probe over claims Deputy PM 'dodged £40,000 in stamp duty'
Angela Rayner faces a possible ethics investigation over whether she paid the correct tax on her multiple homes following suggestions the Deputy Prime Minister 'dodged £40,000 in stamp duty'.
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Questions have been raised in recent days about whether Ms Rayner removed her name from the deeds of her family house before buying a seaside flat 250 miles away in East Sussex - costing £800,000 - to reduce her stamp duty liability.
The move led many to accuse the Deputy PM of 'hypocrisy' over the ownership of “three pads".
Her spokesperson says she paid all the relevant duty and any suggestion otherwise "is entirely without basis".
The row follows Ms Rayner's decision to give councils the power to hike tax on second homes, with the purchase joining her property portfolio of two other residences.
The “holiday home” in Hove now sits alongside her three-bedroom flat grace-and-favour flat in central London and her constituency home near Manchester, purchased for £650,000.
Read also: All the properties Angela Rayner lives in
The Conseratives have now referred Ms Rayner to Sir Laurie Magnus, the Prime Minister’s independent adviser on ministers’ interests, arguing her behaviour had been “unethical”.
They accused her of “hypocritical tax avoidance by a minister who supports higher taxes on family homes, high-value homes and second homes”.
Sir Laurie is set to decide in the coming days whether to open an investigation.
In his letter to Sir Laurie, Conservative Party Chairman Kevin Hollinrake said there were questions over whether the Deputy Prime Minister had broken the ministerial code regarding her tax affairs.
He suggested Ms Rayner should stop presiding over government decisions on council tax on second homes and - at the very least - start paying council tax on her London flat in Admiralty House. Currently, the Cabinet Office pays because she argues it is not her primary residence.
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Mr Hollinrake said her decision to tell HM Revenue and Customs her home in Hove was her primary residence “collapses the house of cards that Tameside is her primary home”, arguing that it is more likely her Admiralty House home is in fact her primary residence.
“She is paying second homes council tax to Brighton and Hove council on a property that she tells HMRC is not a second home. This may be lawful, but it is inappropriate tax avoidance for a minister subject to higher standards of conduct,” he said.
He added: “As with the Prime Minister and Chancellor, she must pay the council tax bill personally.
“It is in this light that I believe the ministerial code has been breached, and her tax affairs are not in good order. This directly engages her conduct as a minister.
“If so, at the very least, an appropriate sanction could be to strip her of her ministerial residence.
“You will also want to consider whether the Deputy Prime Minister must now recuse herself from all policy matters relating to taxation on second homes, given her skin in the game".
A spokesperson for Ms Rayner said on Friday night: “The Deputy Prime Minister paid the relevant duty owing on the purchase of the Hove property in line with relevant requirements and entirely properly. Any suggestion otherwise is entirely without basis".
It comes after care minister Stephen Kinnock defended her, telling Nick Ferrari at Breakfast that Ms Rayner had "done absolutely nothing wrong".
"What Angela is saying is that this is not an issue, she has complied with the law."
"I know everything that she's done is fully within the law...I am very clear in terms of what the Deputy Prime Minister's office has said, and what Angela is saying, clearly, is that this is not an issue.
"She has complied with the letter of the law and that is the situation as we find it today."
It comes as the government claims it has fast-tracked the building of 100,000 homes by cutting red tape.
The purchase comes after her Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government gave councils the right to levy an extra 100% on top of council tax for second homes.
Allies told the Telegraph that Rayner's property is liable for the hike and it will be paid in full.
The measure is intended to allow tourist hotspots like Hove to clamp down on sky-high property prices which risk displacing locals in favour of out-of-town residents.
Ms Rayner was spotted enjoying the beach near her new property for the first time last week, drinking a glass of rose wine while in a Dryrobe.
It follows fellow MP Matthew Pennycook branding the current rates of housebuilding "not good enough" with figures of 221,000 homes being built between 2023 and 2024.
Insisting that Labour has been targeting "large scale housing developments" across the country, he insisted the government already had planning permission but various issues had stalled developments.
The Deputy Prime Minister's team have denied the allegations, and say no wrongdoing has taken place.