Angela Rayner’s living arrangements are causing the Deputy Prime Minister a headache. The Daily Telegraph has today splashed on claims that Rayner allegedly ‘dodged’ £40,000 in stamp duty on her new £800,000 seaside flat in Hove, East Sussex, after telling tax authorities it was her main home. The paper reports that she removed her name from the deeds of her constituency house in Greater Manchester a few weeks before the purchase. By changing her primary residence, it meant she paid £30,000, instead of £70,000, in stamp duty. A spokesman for Rayner has said: ‘The Deputy Prime Minister paid the correct duty owed on the purchase, entirely properly and in line with all relevant requirements. Any suggestion otherwise is entirely without basis.’
There are two potential issues with these allegations. The first is the charge of hypocrisy. The changes are, as the Telegraph notes, ‘entirely legal’ but will, in their words, ‘raise questions over whether she has deliberately conducted her property affairs to pay less stamp duty and council tax.’ Given the way in which Labour in opposition relentlessly went after Rishi Sunak and others on tax, any suggestion of tax avoidance will inevitably be hurled back at them.
The second issue concerns electoral law. Rayner is, reportedly, registered to vote at three locations – in Manchester, Hove and London (where she has a ministerial flat in Admiralty House). The Tories have now accused her of breaking electoral law to avoid paying council tax on Admiralty House. The party is citing both election law and case law in their defence, arguing that she should be struck off the electoral roll in Greater Manchester on the basis that she does not ‘meet the legal tests for living there.’ A source close to Rayner told the Daily Telegraph: ‘Her home in Ashton-under-Lyne is her primary residence, and where she has been registered to vote for over a decade, entirely properly and within the rules.’
The Conservatives clearly hope to land a blow on Rayner, either by making her personally liable for her council tax bill on Admiralty House or by getting her struck off the electoral roll. While all this talk of homes is doubtless embarrassing for the Deputy PM, the mood in government remains broadly supportive. On today’s morning round her ministerial colleague Stephen Kinnock told LBC: ‘I do wonder sometimes about some of the newspapers that are out there that just seem to be constantly looking to dig out stories about the Deputy Prime Minister.’
That is doubtless true. But given Labour’s past grandstanding, it is hardly surprising that the Tories are now going after them using every trick in the book.
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