UK Deputy PM Angela Rayner admits underpaying property tax

Britain's Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has admitted she had failed to pay enough property tax on a flat purchase. Photo / Getty Images

Britain’s Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has admitted she had failed to pay enough property tax on a flat purchase, after days of growing pressure over the issue.

The 45-year-old said she had referred herself to the Government’s ethics adviser and alerted the tax authorities, blaming the error on “inaccurate” advice.

Rayner, who is also the Minister for Housing, told a Sky News podcast that the discovery prompted her to speak to her family about resigning.

“I’ve been in shock, really, because I thought I’d done everything properly,” she said.

Rayner, a frequent lightning rod for criticism from right-wing media, was reported to have saved £40,000 ($91,499) in stamp duty on the flat in Hove, southern England, by removing her name from the deeds of another property.

She laid out in a series of interviews and a statement how she had sought advice from lawyers that “did not properly take account” of all the details of her personal situation, including a trust fund set up for her disabled son.

Therefore, she said: “I did not pay the appropriate stamp duty at the time of the purchase.”

Prime Minister Keir Starmer backed his deputy in Parliament, saying he was “proud to sit alongside” her, but he faces questions about when he knew of the error after claiming yesterday she was the victim of “people briefing against her”.

Starmer told the House of Commons she had “explained her personal circumstances in detail”.

“She’s gone over and above in setting out the details,” he said.

His spokesman said later the Prime Minister believed Rayner should “pay what is due” if tax authorities determined she had underpaid.

‘Children’s best interests’

Rayner, a figurehead of Labour’s left-wing and regularly tipped to become leader one day, has been a top target for political attacks by the Conservatives.

The opposition party last year accused her of misleading tax officials around another property deal – a 2015 sale of her then council house – but she was cleared of any wrongdoing.

Rayner left school with no qualifications after becoming pregnant aged 16, and has a straight-talking style that has proved popular with working-class voters.

She grew up in Stockport on the outskirts of Manchester in northwest England, living in one of the area’s most deprived social housing complexes.

She has three sons, one of whom was born prematurely and is registered blind with special educational needs.

Rayner said Wednesday that after her 2023 divorce she sold her part of the family home to the trust fund to protect it for her child’s future and used the money in the Hove purchase.

“Every decision I have made has been guided by what I believe to be in my children’s best interests,” she said.

– Agence France-Presse