Defence secretary John Healey is facing embarrassment after failing to pay the full council tax on his second home in Westminster.
Mr Healey became the latest senior minister to face questions about his financial affairs after an ‘administrative error’ by Westminster Council left him underpaying by almost £1,500.
The local authority admitted it had made an ‘error’ due to an oversight and Mr Healey has now paid the full sum owed. The council has also apologised.
But the mix up is potentially embarrassing for Labour, which has seen a string of senior figures, including Rachel Reeves and Angela Rayner face questions about their failure to meet their legal obligations.
The Conservatives said Mr Healey still had questions to answer about why he had failed to notify the council when he received an ‘incorrect’ bill.
Tory Party chairman Kevin Hollinrake said: ‘Whether it’s the anti-corruption minister being investigated for corruption, the homelessness minister who evicted her own tenants, or the housing secretary who failed to pay her stamp duty, with this Government it is one rule for them and another for everyone else.
‘Now we learn the Defence Secretary underpaid his council tax. This comes as the Labour Government is hiking council tax bills for everyone else across the country.
‘Healey needs to come clean about what he knew and when. If we cannot trust senior ministers to keep their own tax affairs in order, how can we trust them to run the country?’
Following the introduction of the second home council charge surcharge this year, the council tax bill for Mr Healey’s Westminster flat effectively doubled to £2,938.
A spokesman for the defence secretary said he notified the local authority that the property was a second home. But the council billed him as if it was his primary residence, charging only half the amount due.
The spokesman added: ‘The Secretary of State fulfilled all his obligations as a tenant by notifying Westminster Council of the second home status of the tenancy on the council tax registration form when the tenancy began.
‘Westminster Council made an administrative error which failed to classify it as a second home for council tax purposes, and led to an incorrect council tax notice being issued. The Council have accepted fault and apologised for the error.
‘Westminster Council have rectified this mistake and the council tax liability, including the second homes surcharge, on the London flat has been paid in full.’
Mr Healey’s main home is in his South Yorkshire constituency, where he has lived for decades. An ally said there could have been no financial gain from underpaying his council tax in Westminster as it is covered by his MP expenses.
He has been renting the flat in Westminster since November last year and uses it as a base when working in London.
A spokesman for Westminster Council said: ‘The Secretary of State filled in the form correctly and registered the address as a second home. There was an oversight by the council, and we did not register it as a second home. This led to an incorrect council tax notice being issued. We apologise for the error.’
The second home surcharge was introduced by the last Conservative government and has been taken up by more than 200 councils since it came into force in April this year.
Ms Rayner resigned as deputy prime minister in September after it emerged she had failed to pay £40,000 in stamp duty on an £800,000 ‘second home’ in Hove.
Ms Reeves faced calls to quit after she broke the law by failing to acquire the licence needed to rent out her south London home. Yesterday she acknowledged she had a ‘duty’ to get it right but added: ‘I don’t think anyone can say they’ve never made an admin error.’
