How a seaside home led to UK deputy PM's resignation

Angela Rayner has resigned as Deputy Prime Minister of the UK.

Rayner has been engulfed in controversy since May, when a newspaper reported that she had purchased a flat worth a little over $1 million (Rs 8.8 crore) in the seaside town of Hove. Rayner, who was also Housing Secretary, has been accused of underpaying stamp duty to the tune of $55,000 (Rs 48 lakh) on the purchase.

In her resignation letter to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Rayner accepted “full responsibility” and said she had received bad legal advice. “I would like to take this opportunity to repeat that it was never my intention to do anything other than pay the right amount,” she added.

Starmer told Rayner in a handwritten letter that he was “very sad that your time as Deputy Prime Minister, Secretary of State and Deputy Leader of the Labour Party has ended in this way.” However, Starmer added that Rayner made the right decision to resign.

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The development comes as the opposition looks to pounce on Starmer, who has had eight senior staff members quit. Graffiti has now been tagged on the walls outside her home in Hove.

What happened?

At the heart of the controversy lies Rayner’s housing situation. Rayner listed her main home in her constituency of Ashton-under-Lyne in Greater Manchester. She has spoken about this herself:

“It remains my family home, as it has been for over a decade. It contains the majority of my possessions and it is where I am registered for most official and financial purposes ranging from credit cards to the dentist to the electoral roll,” Rayner said in a statement.

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“But most importantly, it is where my children live and have gone to school and now college, and where I regularly live while caring for them.”

Rayner, who has three children, in 2020 set up a trust for her disabled son. She said she created the trust following a “deeply personal and distressing incident” after her son, who was born prematurely and requires lifelong care, was awarded compensation for medical malpractice.

Experts say setting up a trust to protect the assets of disabled children is a fairly common practice. Then, in 2023, Rayner divorced her husband Mark. The two of them decided to take turns living in the house alongside their three children. They also put their Ashton-under-Lyne home in a trust, with law firm Shoosmiths as trustees.

In January 2025, Rayner sold 25 per cent of her share in the house. She received $220,000 (Rs 1.93 crore) for her stake. After selling her share of the property in Greater Manchester, Rayner removed her name from its deed. In May, Rayner used most of the money she received to put down a hefty $200,000 (Rs 1.76 crore) deposit on her million-dollar seaside home in Hove, where she spent part of her summer holiday.

Rayner then paid a stamp duty of $40,000 (Rs 35 lakh) on the seaside property – which is standard for first homes. However, those buying second homes have to pay as much as $95,000 (Rs 83 lakh).

This is where things get tricky for Rayner. Because of the way the trust is structured to protect her children, Rayner, under the law, continues to be classified as the owner of the Greater Manchester home – despite selling her 25 per cent stake.

However, Rayner has insisted that she was told she could put down Hove as her main dwelling because she had removed her name from the property deed of the Greater Manchester home. This is not the case under the law. She may also have believed that, as a parent of a disabled child, she was eligible for a tax exemption.

Rayner said that after new media reports about the flat and the stamp duty, she sought advice from a “senior tax counsel.” It was then that she was told she needed to pay an extra five per cent as second-home stamp duty because of the “complex deeming provisions” in her son’s trust.

Starmer, as recently as Monday, was defending Rayner.

“Angela has had people briefing against her and talking her down over and over again. It’s a big mistake, by the way. Angela is an incredible person [and] Deputy Prime Minister,” he said.

It remains unclear when Starmer was informed that she had underpaid her stamp duty.

The resignation

Rayner’s resignation came after a report from the Prime Minister’s independent adviser on ministerial standards found that she had violated the ethics code. Rayner, who had referred herself to the adviser on Wednesday, did so after days of keeping silent.

She said she was resigning based on the findings of the inquiry as well as the impact of the reports on her family. Experts said Rayner needed to contact a specialist in stamp duty tax and that the average solicitor would not even think to ask such questions. It remains unclear who gave her the original advice.

Sir Laurie Magnus, who authored the report, found that though Rayner acted with integrity and gave the inquiry her full cooperation, she nevertheless breached the ministerial code.

The report found that Rayner failed to get “expert” tax advice over the amount of stamp duty she needed to pay. Magnus wrote that the counsel Rayner received “was qualified by the acknowledgement that it did not constitute expert tax advice.” He said that the person who advised Rayner endorsed her getting advice from experts, which she failed to do.

“It is deeply regrettable that the specific tax advice was not sought,” Magnus wrote. While “Ms Rayner has acted with integrity and with a dedicated and exemplary commitment to public service,” she did not meet the “highest possible standards of proper conduct” under the ministerial code, he added.

“Accordingly, it is with deep regret that I must advise you that in these circumstances, I consider the Code to have been breached,” Magnus concluded.

Experts say Rayner is now looking at a hefty fine from the tax authorities. She will have to pay the $55,000 (Rs 48 lakh) plus another $1,300 (Rs 1.14 lakh) as interest. She could also face a “carelessness penalty” of as much as $16,000 (Rs 14.1 lakh) from authorities.