Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has bought a third home on the south coast for over £700,000 - which comes after she oversaw changes allowing councils to double council tax levies for second home owners.
Ms Rayner owns a property in her constituency of Ashton-under-Lyne, which she purchased for £375,00 in 2016 and is now valued at £650,000. She also has a grace-and-favour ministerial apartment in Admiralty House in Westminster.
The Tories have now demanded she “comes clean” about her council tax arrangements, The Mail on Sunday reports.
Ms Rayner’s new property is understood to be in Hove. Neighbours claim they have seen her walking in the are with former Labour MP Sam Tarry, who she was known to have been in a relationship with.
Ms Rayner, who is also housing secretary, oversaw the changes in her department of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, first announced by her predecessor Michael Gove, which aim to deter rich homeowners from buying second properties.
Councils have been granted powers to levy a 100 per cent tax premium - double the usual rate - on second homes since April.
After Labour won last year's general election, Ms Rayner declared her constituency home to be her primary residence and was able to claim back £1,621 in council tax from the London flat as one of the permitted housing costs reimbursed by the Commons' authorities.
The Mail on Sunday reports that Ms Rayner has not answered question about whether this is still the case. Her Hove property is reported to be Band D and would entail a £2,455 council tax bill for two people, or £1,841 for someone living alone, which doubles if it is a second home.
Shadow housing secretary Sir James Cleverly accused Rayner of failing to clarify her living arrangements before Parliament.
He said: "Angela Rayner is responsible for housing policy, yet she won’t even be straight about her own. Time and again she’s been asked to declare exactly what properties she owns and where she pays council tax, and time and again she’s dodged those questions.
“That matters, because this is the same deputy prime minister who’s hiked taxes on family homes across the country. If she’s not prepared to be open about her own affairs while taxing everyone else, the public will wonder what she has to hide.”
A source close to Ms Rayner told The Mail on Sunday: "Angela’s work means that she’s often had to be in and around London for over a decade now but had always rented a flat for that purpose."
The furore comes amid speculation the next budget could see Labour overhauling property taxes such as stamp duty and council tax.
Earlier this week, it was reported Rachel Reeves may end the current exemption from capital gains tax for primary residences as she seeks ways to raise cash in the face of dire warnings about the state of the public finances.
Such a move would see higher-rate taxpayers pay 24 per cent of any gain in the value of their home, while basic rate taxpayers would be hit with an 18 per cent levy.
Under the proposals being considered for the autumn budget, the private residence relief would end for properties above a certain threshold.
The threshold is still under consideration but a £1.5 million starting point would hit around 120,000 homeowners who are higher-rate taxpayers with capital gains tax bills of £199,973, the newspaper reported.
