Judgement day for Rayner? Deputy PM could be dismissed as early as today as verdict on tax affairs looms
Angela Rayner could face the sack as early as today if Sir Keir Starmer’s ethics adviser finds that she broke the ministerial code by underpaying stamp duty on her £800,000 seaside flat.
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Sir Laurie Magnus is preparing to deliver his verdict after reports emerged the Deputy Prime Minister had saved £40,000 in stamp duty on the property in East Sussex by not paying the higher rate reserved for additional home purchases.
While the Prime Minister has refused to confirm whether he will fire his second-in-command, Sir Keir has said he “of course” will act on the findings of his independent standards adviser looking into whether Ms Rayner broke ministerial rules.
The Labour leader said it was for Sir Laurie to establish the facts around the controversy, “then of course it does fall to me - I completely accept that - to make the decision based on what I see in that report”.
Ms Rayner referred herself for an ethics investigation on Wednesday, admitting that she had not paid enough stamp duty on the purchase of her flat in Hove.
The Deputy PM claims she made a mistake resulting from incorrect advice from a conveyancer and two trust law experts who told her she did not need to pay the higher rate reserved for second home purchases.
But on Thursday, conveyancing firm Verrico and Associates said its lawyers “never” gave Ms Rayner tax advice and were being made “scapegoats”.
Read more: Rayner firm claims it has been made 'scapegoat' over tax advice as judgement day looms for Deputy PM
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, added: “We believe that we did everything correctly and in good faith. Everything was exactly as it should be.
“We probably are being made scapegoats for all this”.
Speaking to LBC, Pat McFadden, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, said: "Anyone who reads the statement that Angela Rayner issued this week will see a picture of somebody trying to do the right thing.
"This is a complicated situation. She's got a disabled son, there's a trust involved. As soon as she was told that she had not paid enough tax on the property that she bought, she said she would pay every penny due. She referred herself to the independent advisor on ministerial interests.
"Those are the right things to do. She's done the right thing. Now we've got to let the independent adviser do his job, which is always to look at these situations. When any accusations been made about a minister".
Losing the Deputy Prime Minister would cause a headache for Sir Keir as he seeks to reset his government following a difficult summer dominated by criticism of the small boats crisis and speculation about tax rises in the autumn budget.
Ms Rayner is popular among the Labour grassroots and is said to have played an important role in defusing the backbench revolt over proposed welfare cuts earlier this year.
She is key to his political project, overseeing the manifesto pledge to build 1.5 million new homes as well as the government’s flagship workers’ rights expansion, and is seen as a bridge between Number 10 and the wider party.
