Tories call for HMRC probe into Rayner over stamp duty

Downing Street insisted Sir Keir had full confidence in Angela Rayner, but declined to say whether he would sack her if she was found to have breached ministerial standards.

The Prime Minister’s spokesman said: “As you’d expect, we’re not going to get ahead of the process.

“As she’s set out in her statement today, she’s referred herself to the independent adviser. She will provide him with her fullest co-operation and access to all the information he requires.

“It is now up to the independent adviser to conduct that process.”

No 10 refused to say when the Prime Minister was informed about his deputy’s tax underpayment or whether he had seen the legal advice she had received.

Sir Keir believes Ms Rayner should “pay what is due”, his spokesman said.

Tory party chairman Kevin Hollinrake called for HMRC to open an investigation into Angela Rayner.

The letter, which has been shared with Sir Laurie Magnus, the Prime Minister’s independent ethics adviser, added: “I am requesting that HMRC undertake a full investigation into this matter and consider the application of a penalty for tax evasion.

“I note that HMRC guidance on this issue recommends a penalty based on Potential Lost Revenue, of 30% of the revenue for an ‘careless’ inaccuracy (which would be £12,000), to 100% (£40,000) for a deliberate inaccuracy.

“You may wish to obtain a copy of the ‘advice’ that she claims to have had, inspect her multiple title deeds on the Land Registry, and obtain a copy of the declaration of trust from 2023. Was this ‘advice’ actually from a tax lawyer or chartered tax adviser?”

The taxman must launch an investigation into whether Angela Rayner has evaded tax after she admitted an underpayment of stamp duty on a seaside flat, the Conservatives have said.

Deputy Prime Minister Ms Rayner’s explanation that she was given inaccurate legal advice “cannot withstand scrutiny”, Tory party chairman Kevin Hollinrake said in a letter to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) calling for the tax authority to open a tax evasion investigation.

The Conservatives called for the probe after Sir Keir Starmer backed his deputy at Prime Minister’s Questions, and insisted he was “very proud to sit alongside” her.

Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice called Angela Rayner a “hypocrite” over her stamp duty error.

He told Sky News: “She was so vocal in attacking opposing politicians when she was in opposition that she can’t stand up and say ‘I’m the biggest hypocrite in the land’. She has to offer her resignation to the Prime Minister.”

Property expert and TV presenter Kirstie Allsopp posted on X: “I’ve always wanted everyone to understand that the so called 2nd home surcharge is a vicious little tax which catches people at the some of the most difficult stages of their life (sic).

“If Angela Rayner didn’t understand how it worked then how are the rest of us supposed to?”

Science Secretary Peter Kyle told LBC that Ms Rayner was “being treated very differently” because she was from a working class background.

He added: “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.”

Stamp duty is a “confusing mess” according to one tax expert, after Housing Secretary Angela Rayner disclosed she had underpaid the tax on a seaside flat.

Posting on X, Dan Neidle, founder of Tax Policy Associates, said that in situations where people are buying a house and “everything is simple, you can ask your conveyancer how much stamp duty to pay”.

But he said that in complex situations “this is a very bad idea”.

Mr Neidle added: “The bigger point: stamp duty is a confusing mess. The tax shouldn’t exist. The second home surcharge is daft.

“Why are we taxing someone who buys two £500k homes £55k (£15k + £40k), But someone who buys one £1m home £43k? Where’s the logic?”

David Maddox has said it is hard to see how Angela Rayner survives as Deputy Prime Minister following her admission she did not pay the correct stamp duty on her Hove flat.

With her admission that she did not pay her tax properly Angela Rayner appears to have put herself on the fast-track to the exit door of government.

Ironically, Ms Rayner had been having a raging row behind the scenes that Keir Starmer had not fulfilled a promise to give her a proper Office of the Deputy Prime Minister with staffing and just handed her an empty title instead.

Now it seems highly unlikely that she will hold on to that DPM title even let alone her Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government.

The old adage was that sex scandals did for Tories and money ones ended Labour careers.

There is no sympathy within Labour for tax dodgers whether that is businessmen or others but they’d not want someone leading their government who has tried to avoid paying what is due for public services.

The last scandal involved former transport secretary Louise Haigh over issues about claiming to have lost phones at work when they had not been stolen as she claimed. Haigh survived a day before being forced to quit and is now rebuilding her career.

For Rayner the stakes were higher because many thought there was a strong chance she would replace Starmer as PM. Not now though.

Sir Keir has little patience for those who break the rules and it will be hard to see him sticking by his DPM.