Britain’s deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, acknowledged on Wednesday that she had failed to pay adequate taxes when she bought a seaside apartment, raising questions about whether she can hold on to her position and creating another political headache for Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Ms. Rayner said she had not tried to evade taxes, having relied on legal advice about how to handle a complex property transaction that involved another residential property she owned with her ex-husband. But she said that she had referred herself to the prime minister’s ethics adviser, who would investigate whether she violated the code of conduct for cabinet ministers.
For Mr. Starmer, whose government has struggled to find political traction amid a stagnant economy and erratic economic policies, Ms. Rayner’s admission is a major new distraction. It adds to a perception of ethical laxity among senior members of the Labour government, including Mr. Starmer, who last year disclosed accepting donations to buy clothing for him and his wife, and free tickets to soccer games.
The prime minister expressed support for Ms. Rayner, saying in Parliament that “she has explained her personal circumstances in detail” and that she had acted properly in referring herself to the ethics adviser. With a grim-faced Ms. Rayner sitting behind him on the Labour frontbench, Mr. Starmer added that he was proud to serve alongside a working-class woman who had risen to the top levels of the British government.
“It has been quite a distressing time for my family,” a subdued Ms. Rayner told Sky News. She said that she had contacted the tax authorities to notify them that she owed additional “stamp duty” — a tax paid by the buyer of a residential property above a certain price — on the apartment in Hove, on the southeast coast of England, which she bought last May.
But Ms. Rayner, 45, insisted that the underpayment was innocent, a result of arrangements involving a financial trust for her son and another house near Manchester, which she had owned with her ex-husband, whom she divorced in 2023.
Ms. Rayner said that she and her ex-husband each lived part-time in the house, where they cared for their son, who has a long-term disability. The trust was designed to secure part-ownership of the house for the child.
Adding to the political complications for Mr. Starmer, Ms. Rayner serves as housing minister in the government. She is spearheading a Labour pledge to build 1.5 million additional homes in the five-year term of this Parliament.
Mark Landler is the London bureau chief of The Times, covering the United Kingdom, as well as American foreign policy in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. He has been a journalist for more than three decades.
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