Angela Rayner cleared by HMRC. What a coincidence!

As I understand from what has been revealed in the press, the key issue here was the trust which holds a property for her son who is disabled.

For SDLT purposes the property was still deemed to be hers until he turned 18. He was born on 9 April in 2008 so he turned 18 last month, April 2026.

Rayner bought the Hove property in May 2025.

Someone who was tax planning to reduce their SDLT liability tax would have waited until the child turned 18 before buying another property.

Rayner has tweeted:

I welcome HMRC’s conclusion, which has cleared me of any wrongdoing. I have been exonerated by HMRC of the accusation that I deliberately sought to avoid tax. When purchasing a home of my own with a mortgage, I did not own any other property and had no personal financial interest in the court-instructed trust set up to manage my son’s financial award. I was advised by experts that I should pay stamp duty at the standard rate. I set out to pay the correct amount of tax. I took reasonable care and acted in good faith, based on the expert advice I received, and HMRC has accepted this. I have always sought to act with integrity, and I believe politicians should be held to high standards - that is why I resigned from government and cooperated fully with HMRC. I wanted to ensure that I paid every penny that I owed, and have done so. I am relieved that my family can now move on - and that I can get on with my job.

Angela Rayner has said she has settled £40,000 in unpaid stamp duty and claimed she had been cleared of an deliberate . ed of any deliberate wrongdoing by HMRC.

HMRC has not made a statement.

An accusation was made - she did the right thing and stood down while it was investigated - the accusation has now proved unfounded. Where is the problem?

I have no axe to grind on her behalf and do not rate her as PM material, but I do rate fairness.

I hate it when people jump on the media fuelled bandwagon of simplistic thinking.

MaizieD

^I presume we are all going to look on Farage with similar opprobrium and little gossipy snippets?^

Let's be fair. Some of us do that already...

Indeed 👍

I presume we are all going to look on Farage with similar opprobrium and little gossipy snippets?

Let's be fair. Some of us do that already...

Indeed Cossy and notwithstanding how people feel about Rayner, I personally am not smitten, if HMRC has cleared her of wrongdoing then she has been cleared. Anything else is just speculation, which is all fine and dandy, but it is not based on fact, the fact is she has been cleared.

I'm getting these distinctive Trousergate connections here with the O/P. Funny old world.

I presume we are all going to look on Farage with similar opprobrium and little gossipy snippets?

She resigned, just as she should have done, no hounding and pushing and no denying or hiding it

.She did not have a choice.

Cleared...no wrongdoing...official.

Primrose53

The Ethics Advisor said her conduct fell far below what was expected.

Nevertheless, HMRC cleared her of deliberate wrongdoing!

Primrose53

Journalist Andrew Pearce has reported that AR knew on Tuesday that she had been cleared but left it until today to overshadow Wes Streeting. She detests him and said she would rather poke matchsticks her in her eyes than support him.

So?

She's a politician, and a canny one at that. She's making a political move.

I didn't need a journalist to tell me the bl**ding obvious. She's throwing a spanner in Streeting's works. Power to her elbow I say...

The Ethics Advisor said her conduct fell far below what was expected.

Journalist Andrew Pearce has reported that AR knew on Tuesday that she had been cleared but left it until today to overshadow Wes Streeting. She detests him and said she would rather poke matchsticks her in her eyes than support him.

eazybee

Angela Rayner was not hounded out of office. The discrepencies in her sale and purchase of property in Ashton and Hove were investigated, and Sir Laurie Magnus,PM's Independent Advisor on Ministers' Interest advised:
"Her unfortunate failure to settle her SDLT liability at the correct level, coupled with the fact that this was only established following intense public scrutiny, leads me to advise you that in matters relating to this matter she cannot be considered to have met the highest possible conduct as envisaged by the code, Therefore I inform you that in these circumstances the code has been breached."
Not hounded, investigated and found wanting.
And (some) people think this woman is a possibility for Prime Minister.

She resigned, just as she should have done, no hounding and pushing and no denying or hiding it.

LadyGracie

She paid her £40k debt, she wasn’t cleared.
Nice to have a spare £40k lying around.

Sorry to disagree, but yes, she paid what needed to be paid, BUT she was cleared of any wrongdoing, HMRC cleared her of deliberately attempting to “con” them and no penalty was incurred.

Let's wait and see the results of the Electoral Commission and the Parliamentary Standards Committee inquiries into an undeclared 'gift' of £5million before we start judging who is fit to be a Prime Minister, shall we?

Angela Rayner was not hounded out of office. The discrepencies in her sale and purchase of property in Ashton and Hove were investigated, and Sir Laurie Magnus,PM's Independent Advisor on Ministers' Interest advised:
"Her unfortunate failure to settle her SDLT liability at the correct level, coupled with the fact that this was only established following intense public scrutiny, leads me to advise you that in matters relating to this matter she cannot be considered to have met the highest possible conduct as envisaged by the code, Therefore I inform you that in these circumstances the code has been breached."
Not hounded, investigated and found wanting.
And (some) people think this woman is a possibility for Prime Minister.

She paid her £40k debt, she wasn’t cleared.
Nice to have a spare £40k lying around.

I think the timing of her hastily arranged interview with Paul Brand is anything but coincidence.

People are hounded out of office. I'm am sure you have seen that, in a media frenzy.
She has been found not guilty.
To keep referring back to her 'offence', might be venturing into the zone of slander.

Mind you, if she becomes PM that will be even more hilarious.

Especially if she comes up against Kemi given her yesterday's on fire performance in the House!

Actually I quite like AR as a person, just not her politics and her tax dealings.