DEPUTY Prime Minister Angela Rayner has resigned from Government after a row broke out over her tax affairs.
An independent ethics probe over her underpayment of stamp duty sent a report to the Prime Minister ahead of the weekend on whether she broke ministerial standards rules.
Shortly afterwards, Rayner resigned from her position as Deputy Prime Minister and Housing minister on Friday morning.
But how did we get here?
Stamp duty
The row centres around the amount of stamp duty Rayner paid on the purchase of an £800,000 property in Hove in recent weeks.
The Daily Telegraph reported she paid £40,000 less in stamp duty, the English property sales tax, on the seaside flat than she would have if it were considered a second home.
The Deputy Prime Minister claimed it was her primary residence for the purpose of the purchase, after her name was removed from the deeds of her family home in Greater Manchester.
However, elsewhere Rayner had described the Greater Manchester property, in Ashton-under-Lyne, as her primary residence.
She has since revealed, after lifting a court order, that the home is held in a trust, and is where she and her ex-husband jointly care for their disabled son.
Rayner and her former husband divorced in 2023, and transferred half the ownership of the property to a trust. They agreed to an arrangement where their children would remain at the property, while Rayner and her ex-husband would live there on an alternating basis.
Rayner's seaside Hove property was vandalised with graffiti labelling her a "tax evader" on Thursday.
So what rules is she meant to have broken?
As Rayner had removed her name from the deeds of the Greater Manchester property, she had paid only £30,000 in stamp duty on her Hove flat, instead of the £70,000 which would have been required if it were considered a second home.
During the process of buying the flat, Rayner took legal advice from several sources about the amount of stamp duty she needed to pay, none of which suggested she was underpaying. This proved to be inaccurate.
On Friday, the conveyancing firm she used to complete her purchase denied giving her tax advice.
Rayner had previously instructed a KC to review her position on stamp duty at the end of August, after reporting in the media. Initial advice from the KC came back on the evening of Monday September 1, and it appeared to be at odds with the previous advice she had received.
What was the probe into her actions?
Laurie Magnus, the Prime Minister’s independent adviser on ministers' interests, was asked to rule on whether or not Rayner’s actions constituted a breach of the ministerial code.
The code places an “overarching duty on ministers to comply with the law”, “behave in a way that upholds the highest standards of propriety”, and “be as open as possible” with the public.
In a letter to the Prime Minister, Magnus said Rayner’s actions failed to meet the “highest possible standards of proper conduct”.
He said she had “acted with integrity and with a dedicated and exemplary commitment to public service”, but concluded she breached the ministerial code over her tax affairs.
Magnus said that on the basis of the advice she had received from her lawyers, Rayner believed that the lower rate of stamp duty would be applicable on the Hove flat purchase and was twice informed in writing that this was the case.
But in both instances that advice was qualified by the acknowledgement that it did not constitute expert tax advice and was accompanied by a suggestion, or in one case a recommendation, that specific tax advice be obtained – something she did not do until after the media pressure on her over the flat.
Magnus said her “unfortunate failure” to pay the correct stamp duty coupled with the fact that this was established "only following intensive public scrutiny” led him to conclude she had not met the highest possible standards.
In her resignation letter, Rayner said she had "inadvertently" paid the wrong amount of stamp duty.
“I deeply regret my decision to not seek additional specialist tax advice given both my position as Housing Secretary and my complex family arrangements," she said.
"I take full responsibility for this error. I would like to take this opportunity to repeat that it was never my intention to do anything other than pay the right amount."
You can read her full resignation letter here.
What has the Prime Minister said?
While Keir Starmer defended his deputy during PMQs on Wednesday, he was more equivocal when questioned by journalists on Thursday.
The Prime Minister told the BBC he would “act on whatever the report is that’s put in front of me”.
He then said it was for the independent adviser to establish the facts around the controversy, “then of course it does fall to me – I completely accept that – to make the decision based on what I see in that report”.
Elsewhere, Rayner’s colleagues in Government have lined up to defend her record, with trade minister Douglas Alexander on Friday morning telling Times Radio she was in politics “for the right reason”.
Alexander also urged patience ahead of the conclusion of the investigation, telling BBC Breakfast: “I would just ask your viewers to think, what would they want, in their circumstances, in their workplace. Of course, there need to be procedures.
“There’s frustration while that process is under way but I think everyone is entitled to due process, and that’s the process that’s underway, but, listen, I get it.”
Starmer was handed the report by Magnus on Friday morning, with Rayner quitting the Government shortly afterwards.
In his response to her resignation letter, Starmer said he was “very sad” that her time in government had come to an end and that he had “nothing but admiration” for her.
“I am very sad that your time as deputy prime minister, secretary of state and deputy leader of the Labour Party has ended in this way," the Prime Minister wrote.
“As you know we acted in accordance with the strengthened system relating to ministerial conduct that we put in place on coming into government.”
He said she was right to have referred herself to the independent adviser on ministerial standards.
“Although I believe you have reached the right decision, it is a decision which I know is very painful for you," he added.
“You have given your all to making the Labour Government a success and you have been a central part of our plan to make Britain fairer for working families.”
What happens next?
Rayner leaving the Government means two things are now on the horizon.
First, the Labour Party will have to elect a deputy leader, which will require a contest to be held.
Rayner is popular among Labour members, so if a contest is held, it could be seen as the party membership's verdict on Starmer's first year in Number 10.
It also triggered a broader reshuffle of the Cabinet, which has seen Ian Murray sacked and David Lammy, Yvette Cooper and Shabana Mahmood given new roles.
