Angela Rayner says she should have paid more tax on Hove flat

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy50446rq73o

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Angela Rayner has admitted she should have paid more tax when she bought her £800,000 flat in Hove, after weeks of Tory criticism.

The deputy prime minister said she should have paid a higher rate of tax on the purchase due to arrangements on her family home in Greater Manchester.

But she denied she had tried to dodge tax, blaming legal advice she said had turned out to be inaccurate. She added that she was prepared to pay more tax as a result of the "error" and had referred herself for an investigation by the prime minister's ethics adviser.

Sir Keir Starmer stood by his deputy, saying he was "very proud to sit alongside" her, at Prime Minister's Questions.

The Conservatives had called for an investigation after reports Rayner had saved £40,000 in stamp duty when buying the East Sussex flat by not paying the higher rate reserved for second home purchases.

In a statement, the deputy prime minister confirmed she had paid the standard rate of stamp duty when buying the flat in May, after "advice from lawyers".

She said she had part-funded the purchase by selling her remaining stake in her family home in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, which she shares with her ex-husband and family.

In her statement, she said: "A court-instructed trust was established in 2020 following a deeply personal and distressing incident involving my son as a premature baby. He was left with life-long disabilities, and the trust was established to manage the award on his behalf - a standard practice in circumstances like ours.

"To ensure he continued to have stability in the family home, which had been adapted for his needs, we agreed that our interest in the family home would be transferred to this court-instructed trust of which he is the sole beneficiary.

"Some of the interest in our family home was transferred to the trust in 2023. In January 2025, I sold the remaining interest in the property to my son's trust."

She added that fresh legal advice she had sought revealed "complex deeming provisions" relating to the trust meant she should have paid the higher rate of stamp duty on the Hove flat.

"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," she added.

"I am working with expert lawyers and with HMRC to resolve the matter and pay what is due.

"I deeply regret the error that has been made. I am committed to resolving this matter fully and providing the transparency that public service demands."

Recording a clip with reporters, she said she had been prevented from sharing more details of her "complex" living arrangements because of a court order that has since been lifted, after she applied to have it removed.

Sir Keir told MPs at Wednesday's question session in the Commons that Rayner had "explained her personal circumstances in detail" about the circumstances of the lifting a confidentiality order in relation to her own son.

"I know from speaking at length to the deputy prime minister just how difficult that decision was for her. But she did it to ensure that all information is in the public domain," he said.

"She has now referred herself to the independent adviser. That is the right thing to do.

"But I can be clear, I am very proud to sit alongside a deputy prime minister who is building 1.5 million homes, who is bringing the biggest upgrade to workers' rights for generations, and who has come from a working-class background to become Deputy Prime Minister."