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London: A tax scandal over a property deal has brought down Britain’s deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, in a political upheaval after days of claims that she avoided the full tax bill on a second home on the English coast.
Rayner quit her post as Labour’s deputy leader and housing minister in a shock resignation after mounting political pressure over her position, sparking a crisis for the government as it loses ground in the opinion polls one year after it came to power.
Angela Rayner has quit as the UK’s Deputy Prime Minister.Credit: Getty Images
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer responded with a sweeping cabinet reshuffle that moved more than a dozen ministers, prompting critics to claim this was proof he had placed the wrong people in key jobs.
The moves came as populist challenger Nigel Farage, the former Brexit advocate who leads the Reform UK party, rallied thousands of supporters with a vow to “make Britain great again” by stopping crime and turning away asylum seekers.
Rayner, whose down-to-earth style made her popular with the Labour Party membership, left school at 16 and became a care worker before joining the union movement and rising to become Labour’s deputy leader five years ago.
Her undoing came when she purchased a new home in the seaside town of Hove, near Brighton on England’s southern coast, and registered this as her primary residence after selling her share of a former family home in northern England.
When an investigation by The Telegraph of London estimated she might have avoided £40,000 ($82,400) in tax, she came under mounting pressure over more than a week and eventually admitted she had received the wrong advice.
An independent adviser told Starmer that Rayner had acted with integrity but had made a mistake and had not paid the correct rate for stamp duty land tax, and had therefore breached the ministerial code of conduct.
Rayner, who has a son with lifelong disabilities, offered her resignation to Starmer on Friday, local time – in the early hours of Saturday, AEST. She will remain a member of the House of Commons.
“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 in a letter to Starmer.
“I take full responsibility for this error.
Angela Rayner and Keir Starmer on the campaign trail in 2024.Credit: Alamy
“I’ve always known that politics changes lives because it changed mine. The last Labour government gave me the tools I needed to build a better life for me and my young son.
“I will continue to serve you, our country and the party and movement I love in the weeks, months and years ahead.”
Starmer elevated former foreign secretary David Lammy as the new deputy leader and moved him to the justice portfolio, while appointing former home secretary Yvette Cooper as the new foreign secretary.
The speed of the change suggested that Starmer selected Lammy and Labour’s national executive council went along with his choice, avoiding the need for a ballot for the deputy leadership.
Capitalising on the disarray, Farage vowed to “make Britain great again” in front of supporters at a party conference, with plans to stop crime and turn away asylum seekers.
“Let’s make Britain great again,” he said, echoing the message from American president Donald Trump at last November’s presidential election.
“I’ve heard that phrase somewhere else before, but I agree with it.”
Farage, who has a longstanding friendship with Trump, met the president at the White House on Wednesday after appearing at a Congressional committee to warn against Labour policies in Britain to crack down on hate speech on major digital platforms.
Bringing his speech forward by several hours to respond to the turmoil in the government, Farage highlighted the recruitment of another former Conservative minister, Nadine Dorries, who joined Reform UK this week.
British Reform party leader Nigel Farage has vowed to “make Britain great again”.Credit: AP
While Farage has poached a series of Conservatives who are not in parliament, and now has stronger support than the former governing party in the latest opinion polls, his party has only four seats of the 650 seats in the House of Commons.
In his address to the party conference in Birmingham, he promised to stop the arrival of asylum seekers within two weeks of taking government, pledged a “stop and search” power for police to crack down on crime, and said he would scrap the country’s net zero climate target.
He also signalled some “serious cuts to the welfare budget” in future Reform UK policies.
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“I think there’s every chance now of a general election happening in 2027 and we must be ready for that moment,” he said.
The next election is not due until 2029, however, and Labour governs with 399 of the 650 seats in the Commons.
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