Angela
Rayner cleared by HMRC over tax affairs paving the way for potential leadership
bid
Exclusive:
Former deputy prime minister says investigation ‘clipped my wings’ as she
settles £40,000 in unpaid stamp duty
Pippa
Crerar Political editor
Thu 14
May 2026 09.01 BST
Angela
Rayner has been cleared by HMRC of deliberate wrongdoing or carelessness over
her tax affairs, the Guardian can reveal, paving the way for a potential
leadership bid as Keir Starmer’s grip on power unravels.
The
former deputy prime minister has settled £40,000 in unpaid stamp duty after
initially paying the lower rate, but has not paid any penalty as a result of
the investigation. HMRC was also satisfied there was no tax avoidance.
In an
interview with the Guardian, Rayner said she had been “bruised” by the whole
experience because of the intrusion into her disabled son’s personal life, but
also because it had appeared as though she was “in it for myself” rather than
on the side of ordinary people.
The news
was welcomed by Labour MPs and Rayner supporters on Thursday. Tracy Brabin, the
mayor of West Yorkshire, said she was delighted it had been resolved. Asked if
she wanted Rayner to be “part of the conversation” around the leadership of the
Labour party, she told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme: “What she said this
morning is that she wants to play her part, but we are in agreement that we
can’t continue with the process of government, as it is not fit for the 21st
century. It will not deliver the pace of change that the public have been
waiting for for over 15 years and are crying out for change. We cannot be the
party left behind.”
The MP
for Blackpool South, Chris Webb, said many people owed Rayner an apology.
“She’s dedicated her life to public service and helping others, which makes the
way she was treated all the more awful,” he wrote on social media. The leader
of Oldham council, Arooj Shah, said Rayner had been through “undeserved hell”,
adding: “There is what comes from being in public life and then there is what
comes in spades when you are a woman in public life.”
The
investigation by HMRC into her tax affairs has hung heavily over the senior
Labour MP since she was forced to resign from the cabinet last September. Now
it has been resolved, the door is open for a return to frontline politics.
Rayner
indicated she may run in the event of a contest, saying she wanted to “play my
part” and that she understood why Labour MPs were so upset following last
week’s election crushing. She said Starmer should “reflect on” stepping aside.
With
Labour on the brink of civil war, Wes Streeting, the health secretary, is
preparing to launch a leadership challenge on Thursday if he and his allies can
secure the support of enough MPs to trigger a contest.
His move
to force a race has sparked a frantic scramble on the left of Labour to find a
candidate to oppose him, with Ed Miliband and Rayner both possible contenders,
while Andy Burnham is unable to run from outside parliament.
Rayner
suggested she could enter any leadership contest, should one be triggered by
Streeting on Thursday, although sources have said she was not dead set on being
the left’s candidate.
“I’ll
play my part in doing everything we possibly can to deliver the change, because
it’s not a personal ambition, I know the difference it makes,” she said when
asked.
“Whatever
role I can play, I will keep pushing and pushing hard because I want the people
out there at the moment who are really struggling … to know that I’m putting
all my energy into fighting for them.”
Rayner
did not rule out endorsing a soft left rival if they had a better chance of
success in any contest, raising the prospect of potential candidates on her
wing of the party agreeing who would represent them.
“I don’t
think it’s a case of each person for themselves, but I do think it’s a case of
people seeing how they can pull the party together and have the vision to take
us forward. You have to play your role as part of a team,” she said.
But
Starmer’s former deputy ruled out launching a coup herself. “I’ve made it clear
that I wasn’t going to trigger the prime minister – and that I want to see
change. I want to see actions, not just words.”
Rayner
declined to say whether Starmer should fight any leadership challenge, saying
that was a matter for the prime minister. When pressed on whether he should
step aside, she said: “Keir will have to reflect on that.”
She
added: “I’ve said to Keir this is a really significant moment for our party and
the country … The pace of change hasn’t been enough for voters to see, and also
mistakes have really blown us off course and made voters doubt us.”
Streeting
has been organising an attempt to oust Starmer for days since Labour’s
disastrous election results, which Rayner said had left many MPs – including
herself – “heartbroken” at losing longstanding councillors.
“Whatever
Wes is doing, he has to justify his actions,” she said. “I do understand my
colleagues and why they’re they’re angry and upset … I do understand why we’re
having this conversation now, but we need to get through that as quickly as
possible.”
Rayner
again stressed that Burnham should not have been prevented from re-entering
parliament.
“If
somebody wants to come and help, and be part of the future that we can deliver,
then absolutely we shouldn’t be blocking people … We cannot afford to be
factional about this. We cannot afford to have egos,” she said.
But when
asked, she said it would not be appropriate for her to ask Labour MPs in the
north-west to stand down from their seats so that he could run.
Rayner’s
last eight months have been overshadowed by the HMRC investigation, which was
initiated after it emerged she had underpaid stamp duty on a Hove flat that she
bought when her son’s trust bought her out of the family home.
“I felt
that voters were left with the impression that I somehow tried to avoid – or
worse had been reckless or careless – in my actions. Whereas now hopefully
people can see that actually it’s a really complex area of law,” she said.
But she
acknowledged that some people would still feel uncomfortable about a former
housing secretary paying the standard rate of stamp duty, when HMRC said she
should pay the higher one.
“Yeah, I
understand that, but this is a very complex area of tax. It’s ambiguous and I
did get advice at the time. Therefore I felt like I’d done everything I could
to ensure that I complied,” she said.
However,
she says the investigation had “clipped my wings” because it made people feel
she wasn’t “on their side”. She added: “That hurt the most, yeah, because
that’s what I’ve always fought for.”
Rayner
consulted two leading tax lawyers on her affairs and they reached two different
conclusions. One advised her she would have a “realistic chance” of
successfully appealing against HMRC’s decision but that it could take years.
She accepted the decision and paid the tax.
“Politicians
should be held up to high standards and that’s why, when there was a question
mark, I resigned from government. I think that was the right thing to do,” she
said.
“It was
just the constant digging and then headlines of ‘I avoided tax’, ‘I didn’t want
to pay the tax’, or that ‘I’d taken money from my son’, all these insinuations,
all these things that were not accurate.
“I’m
relieved because the one thing that has really upset me is that the public
thought in some way that I had either been careless, or that I’d tried to avoid
paying tax, when both of those things are clearly not right.”
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário