LONDON: Britain’s deputy prime minister Angela Rayner resigned on Friday after an investigation found she breached the ministerial code by underpaying on a property tax, in a major blow to Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s embattled Labour government.
Rayner, a figurehead among the party’s left-wing base, had earlier this week admitted not paying enough on the flat purchase and referred herself to the government’s independent ethics adviser.
In a letter to Starmer, ethics chief Laurie Magnus wrote that Rayner had failed to “heed the caution” of legal advice she had received and had therefore breached the ministerial code.
“Given the findings, and the impact on my family, I have therefore decided to resign,“ Rayner wrote in a letter to Starmer, adding she would also be stepping down as housing minister and deputy leader of the Labour Party.
“I deeply regret my decision to not seek additional specialist tax advice,“ Rayner said, adding she took “full responsiblity for this error”.
In his reply, Starmer told her he was “very sad” to lose her from government, but added: “You will remain a major figure in our party”.
Rayner disclosed on Wednesday that she had underpayed on the so-called stamp duty on a flat in southern England following days of reports suggesting that she had saved £40,000 ($53,000) by removing her name from the deeds of another property.
The 45-year-old has three sons, one of whom was born prematurely and is registered blind with lifelong special needs.
She said on Wednesday that after her 2023 divorce she sold her part of the family home to the trust fund to protect it for her child’s future and used the money in the flat purchase.
She paid less of the property surcharge because she claimed it was her main home rather than a second home, but later conceded this was wrong because her son is under 18 years old.
Magnus said Rayner had “acted with integrity and with a dedicated and exemplary commitment to public service” but concluded he considered the “code to have been breached”.
Rayner had often been tipped to become Labour leader one day and has been a top target for political attacks by the Conservatives and right-wing media.
She left school with no qualifications after becoming pregnant aged 16, and has a straight-talking style that has proved popular with working-class voters.
She grew up in Stockport on the outskirts of Manchester in northwest England, living in one of the area’s most deprived social housing complexes – AFP
