Starmer Faces Calls to Sack Rayner After Tax Admission
Starmer Scrambles as Rayner’s “Tax Oversight” Exposes the Double Standard
Sir Keir Starmer’s government is once again proving that when it comes to dodging tax, ministers can play the game with impunity while contractors and ordinary taxpayers get the hammer dropped on them. Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has now “admitted” she underpaid tax on her second home—though only after months of stonewalling and only because she got caught.
Rayner, also Housing Secretary (yes, the one lecturing the public about housing policy), says she “considered resigning” but instead nobly referred herself to the ethics adviser. Translation: she hopes a bit of performative contrition will make everyone forget she avoided a cool £40,000 stamp duty bill. That’s not a rounding error. That’s life-changing money for ordinary people.
And the kicker? The people writing the rules are the very ones bending them to their own benefit. Contractors who make the smallest mistake are hit with IR35 penalties, interest, and accusations of tax dodging. But when it’s the government’s own, it’s just an “error” in following “bad advice.” How convenient.
The Day of Hand-Wringing
Rayner admits what was obvious: She didn’t pay enough stamp duty, blames her lawyers.
Self-referral to ethics adviser: The political equivalent of putting yourself in time-out to avoid actual punishment.
Starmer’s glowing support: He’s “proud” of his deputy. Proud of what, exactly—getting caught?
Labour dissent: At least one Labour MP admits this stinks, noting the amount is more than some people earn in years.
Opposition outrage: Predictably, Tories, Reform, and Lib Dems lined up to call for her resignation.
How It Played Out
Rayner sold part of her family home earlier this year, shifted the assets into a trust for her children (which she still conveniently controls), and then bought a flat in Hove. Experts say this should have triggered a second-home stamp duty surcharge. She dodged the bill. For months, she claimed everything was above board. Now she admits it wasn’t.
Normal people get slapped with penalties and accused of being “careless” by HMRC. Cabinet members? They get a TV interview to cry about the stress on their family while they sort out a quiet repayment plan.
The Reactions
Kemi Badenoch: “She underpaid tax. Why is she still in office?”
Nigel Farage: Predictably calls for her head.
James Cleverly: Says her credibility is in tatters—hard to argue.
Ed Davey: Warns her position is “untenable” if the ethics adviser actually grows a spine.
Starmer, meanwhile, insists she’s shown “integrity” by—wait for it—admitting what everyone already knew after being publicly cornered. Apparently integrity now means getting caught red-handed and offering a sheepish apology.
The Legal Spin
Tax expert Dan Neidle, himself a Labour supporter, generously called Rayner’s actions “non-compliant” rather than outright evasion. In other words: she’ll pay the tax, interest, and maybe a token penalty, while being shielded from the kind of aggressive HMRC treatment contractors face daily.
Calls are growing for her to publish the so-called “legal advice” that landed her in this mess. Don’t hold your breath—it’ll either be redacted into oblivion or conveniently “unavailable.”
Rayner’s Sob Story
In a Sky News appearance, Rayner tried the human angle: family struggles, divorce, her son’s disability. No doubt real and painful—but irrelevant to the fact she avoided tax while sitting in the Cabinet. Transparency, she claims, should earn her forgiveness. But if any self-employed worker tried the same “it was complicated” excuse with HMRC, they’d be ruined.
The Bigger Picture
The optics couldn’t be worse. A Housing Secretary dodging property tax while the Treasury considers squeezing landlords and homeowners harder. Starmer’s government promised integrity and a new way of doing politics, but so far, it’s the same old racket: one set of rules for the rulers, another for the rest of us.
The independent ethics adviser will now “investigate”—which in Westminster usually means dragging things out until the public moves on. But if the heat doesn’t die down, Rayner may be forced to go. Starmer, of course, will wait until it’s politically convenient to grow a backbone.
Because when it comes to government tax scandals, there’s one golden rule: they’re always “mistakes,” they’re always “regrettable,” and they’re always only acknowledged once the game is up.
