Honest mistake or sackable offence: Will Angela Rayner be kicked out of the cabinet?
Angela Rayner says she “deeply regrets” underpaying the stamp duty she owed when purchasing her new Hove flat, but will the public accept this as an honest mistake - or deem it a sackable offence?
Listen to this article
In brief:
- Angela Rayner has admitted that she underpaid stamp duty by an estimated £40,000 when buying an £800,000 flat in Hove, paying the standard rate instead of the higher rate
- She claims it was an honest mistake based on incorrect legal advice, because she still legally owns another property through a family trust set up for her disabled son
- Keir Starmer has defended his deputy, but The News Agents say this could be a “dangerous” political moment for the government, as it remains to be seen whether the story will blow over or be regarded as a “sackable offence”
What’s the story?
Angela Rayner has referred herself to the prime minister’s ethics advisor after admitting she mistakenly underpaid stamp duty on her seaside flat in Hove, Sussex.
The Deputy Prime Minister underpaid an estimated £40,000 of stamp duty, blaming the error on incorrect legal advice, on the £800,000 flat.
In a statement addressing the issue, Rayner said she “deeply regrets” the error and that she is committed to “resolve the matter and pay what is due”.
The timing couldn’t be worse for Rayner, who also serves as Labour’s housing secretary, with the government expected to increase taxes on property owners in the Autumn budget, taking place on 26 November.
But during Prime Minister Questions on Wednesday 3 September, Keir Starmer stood firm in support of his deputy, saying he is “proud” to sit alongside her.
While there is now no doubt of wrongdoing, there are questions as to whether this was - as some accuse her of - purposeful tax avoidance, or an honest mistake.
What happened?
Rayner purchased the Hove property in May 2025 and said she was advised by lawyers at the time that she was only required to pay the standard stamp duty rate.
However, she also has a property in her constituency Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, in which her children live full time and she and her ex-husband take turns residing in to care for them. This property is where she is registered for council tax and the electoral roll.
Months before the Hove property purchase she put her stake in the Ashton home into a trust, originally set up in 2020, to manage payment to one of her sons after a “deeply personal and distressing incident” as a premature baby that left him with lifelong disabilities.
Rayner says that after her divorce, she decided to keep the family home to ensure “stability” for her son which has been “adapted for his needs”.
Even though she gave up her financial stake in the Ashton home, she is still regarded as owning it if her child is a beneficiary under the trust, and entitled to the dwelling for life - and therein lies the problem.
The Hove flat can therefore not be treated as her only residence, and she should have paid the higher stamp duty rate of £70,000, rather than the £30,000 she paid under the standard rate.
“I acknowledge that due to my reliance on advice from lawyers which did not properly take account of these provisions, I did not pay the appropriate stamp duty at the time of the purchase,” Rayner said in a statement.
“I am working with expert lawyers and with HMRC to resolve the matter and pay what is due.”
What’s The News Agents’ take?
Though on the face of it dodging stamp duty sounds like a serious political scandal, Jon Sopel says this is “not a slam dunk” for Rayner’s political rivals.
The story is complicated and personal, involving divorce, children and complex legal arrangements - and Natasha Clark, LBC’s political editor, says that the public have a lot of sympathy for Raynor, who grew up working class and became a mother at age 16.
Whether it is accepted as an honest mistake and blows over, or becomes a sackable offence, remains to be seen.
“I think we’re going to have to wait a couple of days to see whether there is anger and frustration from Labour MPs and whether the public will accept that Angela Rayner has made an honest mistake or not,” Clark says on The News Agents.
Emily Maitlis suspects that the public might assume that the press has blown the story up to sound more damaging than it actually is, considering that Rayner is “often the lightning rod” in the media cycle.
“The tabloids love Rayner, whether it's in a dinghy, or having a G&T, or commenting on her sunglasses.
“I think that makes it slightly easier for people to go: ‘Oh, you're doing this again. You're doing the misogynist thing again, about the woman in the center of government with the long red hair,” Emily says.
But, “this is much more than that,” she acknowledges.
And it’s a particularly bad look for Rayner, who has been vocal in the past about previous Conservative sleaze, heavily criticising Nadhim Zahawi when he was in the spotlight over his tax returns.
Nevertheless, Starmer has given his immediate and full throated backing to his deputy, something he didn’t afford to others in the Labour government whose behaviour became a ‘distraction’.
“We've had ministers resign over a lot less recently,” Clark says, naming homelessness minister Rushanara Ali and treasury minister Tulip Sadiq, who both left government over wrongdoing.
“Keir Starmer is choosing today to really go in and really back her. And let's not forget that is not the same full throated defense that he gave to Rachel Reeves when she was on the ropes,” she says.
“He is clearly nailing his political colours to her now, taking a bit of a gamble that this is all going to blow over and pay off, but actually, I think it feels a very dangerous political moment for Keir Starmer today.”