Angela Rayner is facing a moment of truth as soon as today with Keir Starmer’s sleaze adviser preparing to give his verdict on her property dealings.
Sir Laurie Magnus could deliver his report on the deputy PM after furious lawyers accused her of trying to make them ‘scapegoats’ for her underpaying tens of thousands of pounds in stamp duty.
Ms Rayner’s hold on her job is looking increasingly tenuous after Sir Keir refused to rule out sacking her yesterday, insisting he would ‘act’ on the findings from Sir Laurie.
The situation is particularly difficult for the PM as while he can remove Ms Rayner from Cabinet, she has a separate elected mandate as Labour’s deputy leader.
Senior figures have been rallying around Ms Rayner since her extraordinary admission that she had failed to pay enough stamp duty, suggesting she is being persecuted for her working class background.
Touring broadcast studios this morning, trade minister Douglas Alexander said he believed Ms Rayner was in politics for the ‘right reasons’ – but her tax issues were being put through a ‘rigorous testing process’.
Ms Rayner gave a tearful interview on Wednesday in which she laid the blame for her troubles on her lawyers.
The row escalated again last night after high street conveyancing firm Verrico & Associates insisted they had acted ‘on the figures and the information provided by Ms Rayner’.
In a withering condemnation, the family firm’s 82-year-old managing director Joanna Verrico said they were being made scapegoats and added: ‘I have got the arrows stuck in my back to show it.’
Meanwhile, Sir Keir Starmer indicated he is ready to sack Ms Rayner if she has broken the ministerial code.
The Prime Minister vowed to ‘act on whatever the report is’ into his deputy’s tax affairs, but refused to guarantee her dismissal five times.
Ms Rayner’s political fate now hangs on the Prime Minister’s ethics adviser Sir Laurie as he prepares to deliver his verdict as soon as today over whether she broke ministerial rules.
After days of stonewalling, Ms Rayner, 45, belatedly admitted underpaying £40,000 of stamp duty on the £800,000 seaside flat she bought in Hove in May.
She should have paid £70,000 instead of £30,000, but she blamed the ‘mistake’ on ‘legal advice that I received that said that I was liable to pay the standard stamp duty’.
Asked on Sky News this morning whether ministers should resign if they breach the rules, Mr Alexander said: ‘All these matters are a matter for the Prime Minister.’
Challenged whether he trusted Ms Rayner, the minister told Times Radio: ‘Listen, I really want to live in a country in which someone with Angela Rayner’s circumstances and background can rise to one of the highest offices in the country.
‘I have to say I should declare an interest – I really like Angela Rayner.
‘We’re a rather improbable group of friends. We come from very different circumstances … if you look at the challenges that Angela Rayner has overcome, not only do I like and respect her but, yes, I think she’s in politics for the right reasons.’
Last night her version of events was dealt a serious blow by Verrico & Associates, based in Herne Bay, Kent, which issued a bombshell statement saying it had calculated the stamp duty ‘strictly based on the facts and information provided to us’ – and that it did not offer tax advice.
Mrs Verrico, who founded the practice in 1994 assisted by her three daughters, later told the Telegraph: ‘We acted for Ms Rayner when she purchased the flat in Hove. We did not and never have given tax or trust advice. It’s something we always refer our clients to an accountant or tax expert for.
‘The stamp duty for the Hove flat was calculated using HMRC’s own online calculator based on the figures and the information provided by Ms Rayner. That’s what we used and it told us we had to pay £30,000 based on the information provided to us.
‘We believe that we did everything correctly and in good faith. Everything was exactly as it should be.
‘We probably are being made scapegoats for all this and I have got the arrows stuck in my back to show it. We are not an inexperienced firm, but we’re not qualified to give advice on trust and tax matters and we advise clients to seek expert advice on these.’
It is understood Ms Rayner is arguing she received at least three pieces of legal advice, including from the trust overseeing her disabled son’s affairs as well as from a conveyancer, supporting her initial position.
But she has yet to reveal if any other lawyer gave her further advice to support her claim she had gone through proper channels and been misadvised.
MFG Solicitors of Kidderminster, which was involved in conveyancing at her family home in Ashton-under-Lyne, said it ‘did not act for Ms Rayner in the purchase of her property in Hove, nor did we provide any tax-related advice in relation to it’. And law firm Shoosmiths, which previously acted for her, also ruled itself out.
As the mystery grew over her flat purchase last week, Ms Rayner sought advice from a tax barrister – who told her this week that she had been wrong not to pay the higher amount of stamp duty, prompting her mea culpa on Wednesday.
Last night Dan Neidle, a tax expert who has advised the Labour Party, tweeted: ‘It’s looking increasingly like Ms Rayner didn’t actually obtain tax advice before this week.’
So far Ms Rayner, who is also the Housing Secretary, has refused to say which firms she consulted before the Hove transaction.
Verrico is a small conveyancing firm that does not employ any qualified solicitors.
Instead, they are licensed conveyancers who only focus on property advice.
The barrister who gave Ms Rayner the later advice is reported to have been Jonathan Peacock, a tax specialist who has been a KC for nearly 25 years. It is understood she commissioned him last Friday and received a draft opinion on Monday – the day the Prime Minister was still insisting she had done nothing wrong.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said: ‘This is yet more damning evidence that Angela Rayner has not been honest with the British public.’
