Ashton-under-Lyne MP, Angela Rayner, has resigned over a failure to pay enough tax on a flat, saying that media pressure was taking a “significant toll” on her family.
Today Sir Laurie Magnus, the PM’s independent ethics advisor concluded that she had broken the ministerial code by not seeking specialist tax advice on the £800k apartment.
Rayner claims she was badly advised about the purchase, but the headlines over recent days have increased pressure on her.
In today’s verdict, Sir Laurie Magnus said that Rayner had “acted with integrity” despite breaking the code. He added that Rayner was told on two occasions in writing that she only needed to pay the lower level of stamp duty, but on both those instances the advice was “qualified by the acknowledgement that it did not constitute expert tax advice.”
In her resignation letter, Rayner said:
“I have always taken my responsibilities as Deputy Prime Minister, Secretary of State for Housing Communities and Local Government, as well as a Member of Parliament with the utmost seriousness. I have long believed that people who serve the British public in government must always observe the highest standards, and while the Independent Adviser has concluded that I acted in good faith and with honesty and integrity throughout, I accept that i did not meet the highest standards in relation to my recent property purchase. I deeply regret my decision to not seek additional specialist tax advice.”
She stated that she had also taken into consideration “the significant toll that the ongoing pressure of the media is taking on my family.”
No one can ever take away what Angela Rayner has achieved.
— Lisa Nandy MP (@lisanandy) September 5, 2025
Her journey, from a working class background to Deputy Prime Minister is unparalleled.
A colleague, a friend and a force for good in our party and country.
“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. I have been clear throughout this process that my priority has, and always will be, protecting my children and the strain I am putting them under through staying in post has become unbearable.”
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In a handwritten note, the Prime Minister responded that he was “very sad that your time as deputy prime minister, secretary of state and deputy leader of the Labour Party has ended in this way.”
The story first broke on 24th August, via The Sun on Sunday and Mail on Sunday. The following week, The Daily Telegraph followed this up with a report that Rayner had saved £40k by not paying the higher rate of Stamp Duty.
The following day, the Conservative Party said that it had asked Sir Laurie Magnus to investigate, and Rayner instructed a lawyer to review her tax position.
On Monday Downing Street then told reporters that there was a court order preventing Rayner from giving details about her tax affairs. This was lifted on Tuesday.
On Wednesday after receiving legal advice, Rayner admitted that she should have paid the higher rate of tax, while yesterday Sir Keir Starmer refused to be drawn on whether he would sack his deputy Prime Minister.
In the end that choice was taken out his hands, when Rayner resigned, this afternoon.
Rayner has often talked about “standing up for the working people” first as a Trade Union representative and later as an MP.
Brought up on a council estate in Greater Manchester, she left her local comprehensive school at 16 with no qualifications and a baby already on the way, “after being told she would ‘never amount to anything.’”
In 2015 she become Ashton-under-Lyne’s first ever female MP and was promoted to the Shadow Whip’s office by then Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn.
She went on to become Shadow Pensions Minister, before becoming a member of the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Secretary of State for Education.
In March 2020, she was elected as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party.
She’s also been Shadow Deputy Prime Minister, Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Shadow Secretary of State for the Future of Work.
