 "UK Deputy PM Angela Rayner resigns amid tax controversy")
Angela Rayner on Friday resigned as the Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party.
Rayner’s resignation has come after it emerged that she could have underpaid stamp duty on a house she bought in East Sussex, England. She held the housing portfolio in Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s cabinet.
The allegations become politically explosive as they emerged at a time when the government was believed to be in the process to roll out increase in property taxes. Rayner was accused of hypocrisy and corruption as critics said that she evaded her own taxes while the government moved to raise taxes for the public.
In preliminary remarks about the investigation in the matter, Sir Laurie Magnus, the independent adviser to Starmer on ministerial standards, said he believes the ministerial code to “have been breached” with Rayner’s actions, according to BBC News.
Even if Rayner failed to seek expert advice about how to go about her taxes, the reason “cannot be considered to have met the highest possible standards of proper conduct” as a minister, Magnus said in a letter to Starmer.
Rayner’s replacement has not yet been named, and it is unclear at the moment if the Cabinet would name a deputy prime minister on an interim basis or the Labour would hold elections for the deputy leader’s post who would then go on to become the deputy prime minister. There is also speculation whether Starmer could move to scrub the post of the deputy party leader and deputy prime minister entirely.
What is the house tax controversy that ousted Rayner?
Rayner is accused of underpaying stamp duty on the purchase of her home at Hove in East Sussex, England.
At the time, Rayner declared that the house in Hove was the only property she owned, which meant that she had to pay £30,000 of stamp duty. In case she already owned a property, she would be required to pay £70,000.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsIt has emerged that Rayner, in fact, was a part-owner of her family home in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, which meant that she actually owed £70,000 in stamp duty. This implied that she underpaid stamp duty by £40,000.
Rayner has said that the situation was a result of wrong tax advice that she received. She said that she was under the impression that, as she had placed the Ashton-under-Lyne property in a trust meant for her disabled son, she did not own it anymore.
However, the law says that if a property has been placed into trust for the benefit of children under 18, the parents of those children are deemed to be owners of the home for stamp duty purposes, according to BBC.
As Rayner’s son was under the age of 18 at the time of the house’s purchase in May, this suggests that she was indeed required to pay £70,000 in stamp duty.
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