The tawdry saga of Angela Rayner’s £40,000 Stamp Duty dodge over her luxury seaside apartment must now surely be due a scandal nickname – ‘Hovegate’ perhaps.
It began two weeks ago outside a beachside café where one sharp-eyed Daily Mail reader was getting a cup of tea.
Staring down towards the shingle, he spotted a distinctive head of red hair and soon realised that he was looking at the Deputy Prime Minister – except that her style of clothing was distinctly unfamiliar.
Instead of her usual Westminster power-dressing style, Rayner was clad in a camouflage and pink DryRobe, the fashionable £165 essential after-swim attire for middle-class mums, and rather than tea she was drinking what appeared to be rosé from a rather large glass.
Tickled by what he was witnessing – and realising she was a very public figure in a very public place and so fair game, our source discreetly fired off a few photos on his phone and sent them to the Daily Mail.
They were published the following day and it provided perhaps a little amusement for our readers in the last days of summer to see ‘woman of the people’ Angela, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, and Rt Hon member for Ashton-under-Lyne in such unusual attire.
But the exclusive front-page photos also set another hare running, one which would ultimately see Ms Rayner issue a grovelling apology today, and have already led to deafening calls for her resignation.
Because a second reader, having seen the Daily Mail’s photos, then drew our attention to the fact that far from just visiting Hove, Ms Rayner had actually moved into a seaside flat very close to where she had been spotted on the beach.
Our reporters made enquiries and quickly discovered that the Deputy PM had bought an £800,000 flat in a Victorian block back in May.
Neighbours we spoke to said she was ‘always pleasant’ to them when they met on the stairs, and her ever-vigilant security team managed to be fairly unobtrusive.
These enquiries led to a second exclusive story in The Mail on Sunday.
And at this point the case of ‘three pads Rayner’ began to gather more political momentum.
She was described in this way because, as well as the Hove flat, she already has an opulent government-provided grace- and-favour apartment in central London, as well as her constituency home in Manchester.
There were calls for her to ‘come clean’ about where she was paying council tax, and for how much, given that her own department had declared war on second-home owners by forcing them to pay double.
But a few days later, it became clear that Ms Rayner had told one story to the taxman, and another to the local council.
And the reason? Saving £40,000 in Stamp Duty for one.
She had claimed to HMRC that the Hove property would be her principal residence but told officials at Brighton and Hove Council, it would be her second home. Her name was removed from the title deeds of her Manchester property shortly before the purchase of the Hove one.
The extra payable in Council Tax of £2,338.06, was dwarfed by the Stamp Duty saving.
Then, the Mail on Sunday discovered another curious aspect of Ms Rayner’s ‘home flip’, in the shape of a top ‘wealth protection’ company being brought in.
She split the ownership of her £650,000 constituency home with a trust administered by blue-chip law firm Shoosmiths.
At the time of the deal, in 2023, the company boasted that it had a dedicated ‘wealth protection team’ to help its private clients.
The legal manoeuvre would be consistent with Ms Rayner placing some of the house’s equity in trust for her three children, one of whom has special needs – although the Deputy PM’s office repeatedly declined to answer The Mail on Sunday’s questions about its purpose.
Today, for the first time, Ms Rayner has been forced to admit that she had indeed dodged paying the ‘appropriate’ stamp duty on her Hove flat, and referred herself to an ethics watchdog.
She said she ‘deeply regrets’ the error made when purchasing her £800,000 apartment in Hove, East Sussex.
Ms Rayner has referred herself to Sir Laurie Magnus, the PM’s Independent Adviser on Ministers’ Interests.
She also revealed she discussed resigning from her Government role with her family amid the intense scrutiny of her property arrangements.
Ms Rayner said in a statement: ‘When purchasing the property my understanding, on advice from lawyers, was that my circumstances meant I was liable for the standard rate of stamp duty.
‘However, given the recent allegations in the press I have subsequently sought further advice from a leading tax counsel to review that position and to ensure I am fully compliant with all tax provisions.
‘I have now been advised that although I did not own any other property at the time of the purchase, the application of complex deeming provisions which relate to my son’s trust gives rise to additional stamp duty liabilities.
‘I acknowledge that due to my reliance on advice from lawyers which did not properly take account of these provisions, I did not pay the appropriate stamp duty at the time of the purchase.
‘I am working with expert lawyers and with HMRC to resolve the matter and pay what is due.’
She added: ‘The arrangements I have set out reflect the reality that family life is rarely straightforward, particularly when dealing with disability, divorce, and the complexities of ensuring your children’s long-term security.
‘Every decision I have made has been guided by what I believe to be in my children’s best interests.
‘I deeply regret the error that has been made. I am committed to resolving this matter fully and providing the transparency that public service demands.
‘It is for that reason I have today referred myself to the Independent Adviser on Ministerial Standards, and will provide him with my fullest cooperation and access to all the information he requires.’
