If Rayner survives she’ll be much diminished
Politically, this is fish in a barrel stuff. If you’re on the record saying that “every pound of tax that’s not delivered to the Chancellor of the Exchequer means that it damages our public services” [sic] and you’ve taken aim at your political opponents by claiming that “it’s one rule for them and one rule for the rest of us,” confessing to dramatically underpaying the amount of tax owed on a property transaction was never going to pass unnoticed.
It’s also hard to ignore the fact that the Deputy PM is also in charge of housing, and bungling her own housing arrangements is hardly a good look.
Angela Rayner’s critics – and she has many – can hardly believe their luck. The Tories are on the attack and it’s unlikely that referring herself to the prime minister’s ethics adviser will buy Rayner much relief over the coming days.
That investigation will attempt to determine exactly what she knew and what she was advised. As things stand, Rayner is effectively blaming her lawyers for failing to give her the correct advice in light of her complicated family and property arrangements, but the alternative scenario is that she didn’t give her lawyers all the facts.
Starmer’s spent the week defending her
It seems unlikely that she would have withheld crucial information in a deliberate bid to avoid tax, but HMRC is clear that ignorance is no excuse. Speaking of which, there are now serious questions being asked of Rayner’s boss, Keir Starmer, as to when he knew the details of his deputy’s mistake. This matters, because he’s spent the week defending her and dismissing the mounting criticism.
By Rayner’s own standards (or at least the standards to which she held Tory MPs when she was in opposition) she should resign, not least because of the damage done to her credibility. Granted, her arrangements were complicated – and for a good reason – but that only underlines the obvious importance of ensuring her financial affairs were absolutely watertight.
At times like this it’s useful to ask a simple question: what would Rayner say if a Tory cabinet minister had found themselves in exactly the same position? We all know the answer to that.
The only good thing that can now come out of this mess is perhaps a wider recognition that stamp duty is a pig’s ear of a tax. Rayner should slip off to the backbenches and lead a campaign to reform it.