UK Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner resigned from her post on Friday after an independent ethics inquiry found that she underpaid tax on a home that she bought recently.
The 45-year-old leader handed over her resignation after an inquiry concluded that she had breached the Ministerial Code of Conduct by failing to seek out specialist tax advice to ensure she paid the correct stamp duty on her £800,000 seaside flat.
Her resignation comes as a huge blow to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who initially stood by her. Sir Laurie Magnus, Starmer's independent adviser on ministerial standards, conveyed to the PM that his deputy cannot be considered to have met the highest possible standards of proper conduct and therefore was in breach of the Ministerial Code of Conduct.
Rayner, in her resignation letter, said she deeply regrets her decision not to seek “additional specialist tax 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. I must also consider the significant toll that the ongoing pressure of the media is taking on my family," she said in the letter.
Laurie Magnus, who described his conclusion as highly unfortunate, said Rayner "believed that she relied on the legal advice she had received, but unfortunately did not heed the caution contained within it, which acknowledged that it did not constitute expert tax advice and which suggested that expert advice be sought."
Earlier this week, Rayner had revealed a complex arrangement that she has with her ex-husband over the care of her disabled son, involving another property that remains a family home. Under the stamp duty requirements for home-buyers in England, anyone buying a second property is expected to pay an additional surcharge.
Rayner had initially classified her new seaside flat in Hove as a primary residence, which would be subject to only the basic rate of stamp duty. However, given the additional family home held in trust for her son, she owed an estimated 40,000 pounds more to the tax authorities than previously calculated.
—With agency inputs