MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

UK: Deputy PM Rayner resigns amid property tax scandal

Rayner's departure triggered a cabinet reshuffle

Angela Rayner turned in her resignation on Friday as British Deputy Prime Minister, housing minister, and deputy leader of the Labour Party. Her decision was prompted by a scandal over unpaid property taxes on an apartment in Hove on England’s southern coast.

Rayner is accused of underpaying a property tax—known as stamp duty—by an estimated £40,000 on the real estate she purchased earlier this year. She blamed the occurrence on improper legal advice but admitted that the intense media scrutiny had made her position “unbearable.”

“While I rightly expect proper scrutiny on me and my life, my family did not choose to have their private lives interrogated and exposed so publicly,” the once popular politician from a working-class background explained.

She was considered a key figure in Prime Minister Keir Starmer's government, and her departure triggered a significant cabinet reshuffle, with David Lammy appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary, Yvette Cooper now becoming Foreign Minister, while Shabana Mahmood has taken on the role of Home Secretary. Steve Reed took over Housing.

This incident adds to the challenges for the Labour government, which is currently facing declining popularity and an increased challenge from political opponents, particularly the anti-immigration Reform UK party.

Rayner has been dubbed a hypocrite, given her history of mauling Conservative ministers in the previous government over similar incidents, to a point Starmer could no longer defend her and told her he was “very sad” that her time in his government had “ended in this way.”

Before entering politics in the Jeremy Corbyn era, Rayner grew up on the outskirts of Manchester and became a mother at 16. Her prematurely born son has lasting disabilities.

In 2018, Rayner accused then-health minister Jeremy Hunt of using a “Tory tax loophole” to save nearly £100,000 in stamp duty when buying seven apartments. That and other similar episodes eventually backfired.