Keir Starmer‘s ethics czar will not even consider an investigation into Angela Rayner‘s tax affairs until a mystery court order blocking her from discussing them is lifted, No10 signalled today.
The Tories have demanded Sir Laurie Magnus, the Independent Adviser on Ministers’ Interests, launch a probe into the Deputy Prime Minister’s purchase of an £800,000 second home this summer.
Ms Rayner, who made her first public appearance today since the row broke, is facing questions about whether she paid enough tax on the seaside flat in Hove.
Tax experts suggested she may not have been eligible for a £40,000 stamp duty discount she received by saying it was her primary residence.
However, No10 says that she is being prevented by a legal gag order from speaking about her financial affairs.
The PM’s official spokesman today suggested Sir Laurie would not even consider whether an investigation was needed until that was lifted, so she could defend herself fully.
He told reporters the court order ‘restricts’ Ms Rayner from providing information, adding: ‘She is urgently working on rectifying it.’
The Deputy PM rocked up to the first Cabinet meeting of the new parliamentary term in a pair of eye-catching sunglasses paired with green flares and a cream double-breasted jacket.
And she was given a warm welcome by colleagues including Foreign Secretary David Lammy as she made her way into No10.
The Deputy PM rocked up to the first Cabinet meeting of the new parliamentary term in shades, as tax experts suggested she may not have been eligible for a £40,000 stamp duty discount she received when she bought a lavish seaside home
The PM’s official spokesman today suggested Sir Laurie would not even consider whether an investigation was needed until that was lifted, so she could defend herself fully
Ms Rayner, who is also the housing secretary, paid £30,000 instead of the full £70,000 rate levied on second homes when she purchased an £800,000 flat in Hove this summer.
She told authorities it was her only property, having forfeited her interest in her £650,000 constituency home in Ashton-under-Lyne two months previously. The Mail On Sunday revealed at the weekend she split the ownership with a trust administered by law firm Shoosmiths.
The legal manoeuvre could be consistent with Ms Rayner placing some of the house’s equity in trust for her three children.
But tax experts today suggested that given two of her three children are still aged under 18, depending how the trust was set up, she could still be deemed to have an interest in it, which would make her ineligible for the discount on her flat.
One expert told the Times: ‘When you have a minor child that’s treated as owning an interest in land, and that’s usually where a trust isn’t discretionary in nature, but they have an interest to live in it during their life – usually called an interest in possession – then in those sorts of circumstances it’s the parents that are treated as still owning an interest in the property.
‘Were this to be the case, Rayner would be required to pay the higher rate of stamp duty as the home in Ashton would still be attributed to her.’
There is no suggestion that Ms Rayner has broken the law and she has denied any wrongdoing.
Conservative MPs question whether the move was intended to avoid potential inheritance tax liabilities.
Tory chairman Kevin Hollinrake said the Deputy PM should ‘come clean on the litany of accusations of tax avoidance – be it stamp duty, council tax or inheritance tax’.
Ms Rayner is facing fresh allegations that while she said the Sussex flat was her main home, she told the Cabinet Office that her primary residence was her former family home in Greater Manchester.
She was given a warm welcome by colleagues including Foreign Secretary David Lammy as she made her way into No10
When Parliament is sitting, Ms Rayner is thought to live mainly in a third property – a lavish grace-and-favour apartment in central London, funded by the taxpayer.
Yesterday Keir Starmer came to the aid of his embattled deputy as No10 insisted she wanted to reveal more about her property deals but was constrained by a court order.
Sir Keir told the BBC the former teen mum is a ‘great story of British success’.
‘Angela came from a very humble background, battled all sorts of challenges along the way, and there she is proudly – and I’m proud of her – as our Deputy Prime Minister’, he told Matt Chorley on BBC Radio 5 Live.
The Prime Minister’s spokesman said Ms Rayner is ‘urgently’ working on a way to give more details about her ownership of two homes ‘in the interests of public transparency’. The nature of the court order is not known.
A spokesman for Ms Rayner has said she had not broken any rules and had paid all relevant taxes.
The Deputy Prime Minister paid £30,000 instead of the full £70,000 rate levied on second homes when she purchased an £800,000 flat in Hove this summer
She had forfeited her interest in her £650,000 constituency home in Ashton-under-Lyne two months previously, with The Mail On Sunday revealing she split the ownership with a trust administered by law firm Shoosmiths
Tory chairman Kevin Hollinrake (pictured) said the Deputy PM should ‘come clean on the litany of accusations of tax avoidance – be it stamp duty, council tax or inheritance tax’
She is said to have relinquished her stake in the Ashton-under-Lyne home before buying the Hove flat as part of the process of divorcing her former husband Mark Rayner.
Friends say this means she would not have been liable for the punitive rate of stamp duty on second homes.
Ms Rayner is also facing fresh questions after registering to vote in person in Hove despite electoral records showing she is already registered for postal votes in Westminster and her constituency.
But No10 said it was ‘quite common to be registered to vote in multiple places’ – although the right to vote may only be exercised in one place.
