Deputy Prime Minister and Greater Manchester MP Angela Rayner is this morning fighting for her political life after admitting in an interview yesterday that she didn’t pay enough tax on her flat purchase in Hove
The Greater Manchester MP has been coming under intense pressure to be more transparent about her property arrangements.
She said her legal advice at the time of purchase was that she was not liable due to her financial circumstances but after the stories appeared, she “sought further advice from a leading tax counsel” who concluded a trust for her disabled son means she was in fact liable for “additional stamp duty liabilities.”
Rayner had also secured permission to have a court order lifted which the government said had prevented her revealing the full details in order to respond to the tax accusations.
Defending her during Prime Minister’s Questions Kier Starmer During PMQs, Starmer said Rayner had “gone over and above in setting out the details” and insisted he was “very proud to sit alongside” her after she came from “a working class background” to end up in government.
The ethics adviser Laurie Magnus has began investigating the case following yesterday’s announcement and reports this morning say the ministerial reshuffle that had been penciled in for next week has now been put off until after the outcome of the investigation which could be completed in a matter of days
Another added complications is that Rayner could also gave a hefty fine from the tax authorities
The Conservative Chairman Kevin Hollinrake is trying his level best to make sure that happens, writing to Director General Penny Ciniewicz requesting that HMRC undertakes a full investigation and “consider the application of a penalty for tax evasion.”
