To think that surely Rayner has to go.

[Blankscreen]

Well well well.

So now it emerges that Rayner rearranged her property affairs and declared to HMRC that her new flat in Brighton is her main residence and saved £40k on the SDLT bill as a result.

She has then apparently declared to the local councils the complete opposite.

I'm sure slimeball Kier will defend and say it was perfectly legal blah blah blah.

Not to mention she has a grace and favour house funded by tax payers in London as her constituency office is so far away. Yet she 'lives' in Brighton - surely she could just commute that distance like may others do every day.

Surely she has to go.

Plenty of stupid people attempt to evade tax. It's the true fools that are found out.

‘Axe’ is quite an emotive word. Perhaps they were simply cut because someone had to make difficult decisions about what the country spent money on. And that needed to broadly fit the manifesto on which they’d been elected.

That doesn’t mean I agree; no one wants services to be cut, but if there isn’t enough money and people don’t want tax rises, what do you do? Borrow ever more? I’d rather a government that took positive action than one that pretended they could do everything without increasing taxes on people.

I really don’t understand why Starmer and Reeves didn’t just say sorry, we need more money. We said no tax rises - we were wrong. After all, they’ve been happy to ignore other aspects of their manifesto.

Sure, they’d get bad press. But they’ve had that anyway with their fumbled attempts at benefits reform. And as a result Starmer appears unable to control his party, Reeves unable to manage the budget or the economy and, it now transpires, Rayner unable to manage housing. What with being almost a third of the way through their term and fewer not more houses being built, and no sign of a planning reform bill to change that.

All animals are equal: but some animals are more equal than others.

It is very disappointing to see how Labour have handled this. I am disappointed in Starmer and the statements

I would have expected Rayner to have been forced to step down by now (she will absolutely fight to stay in her position). The whole narrative is transparent and poor.

Highly original. We’ve never seen such an insightful, highly literary post on these threads before.

Let’s not forget that George Orwell went to Eton.

He was still a pretty insightful writer. Unless you disagree of course

I do not give a damn what happens with Angela Rayner or not as regards her “roles”. What royally annoys me though is that SO MUCH time is being wasted over this when it seems we are yet again in a gilt crisis and have actually really important things for Parliament to sort out! And Reeves is not actually doing a stellar job either so why is Rayner getting all the blame? Is she the scapegoat? I reckon Starmer will have to shuffle at least one out. We need a really strong Chancellor right now, it is a mess.

@EasternStandard - I love George Orwell but he was not an equal animal either. I think he won an academic scholarship and I think Eton still has an Orwell award which is scholarships for talented state school boys. The thing is though he was privileged due to the education he received.
Angela started low and is now privileged too. She is not necessarily doing any worse things than Bojo and his lot so why does she get to have to be better than the rest of them?

Rayner hasn’t helped her own situation by sneering scum at people and then getting found out.
Live by the sword etc

Why can't we wait until the investigation into this is completed?

Then we could hopefully know the 'true' situation. It's obviously pretty complex, with advice, 3 residences etc....

I hate these political witch-hunts. No one decemt would ever want to be a politician when hounded and abused 24/7.

Politically though I am not sure this whole situation harms Labour. Look at Trump and his antics. The fact she is infamous may actually help them in the long run, such is the farce of modern politics.
The Telegraph want her out because she is the only Farage antidote. We saw it in some of the previous election debates. He was talking directly at her.
I do not think she should go unless held to have to in accordance with the investigations. Labour are failing because they you-turn and give in at every point. They need to grow a pair and lead.

Depends on the terms of reference of the investigation. It could simply “uncover” that AR did not pay the tax she should have done but has now paid it with any required penalty

Well we’ll see in the polls I guess. I’m doubtful I think it harms them if she stays or goes.

Because Labour are the party that campaigns for fairness in society, that campaign on the unfairness in society and wanting to fix this so yes many will consider them to be morally more upstanding (I do not always agree with this).

This is absolutely what Rayner has built her career on and has always always been extremely vocal on her criticism of those who play the system. This she has been mocked her and gained popularity through so when she dodges tax herself of course its big news.

Rayner is the Deputy PM of course this should be headline news do we not want better for from out most senior politicians regardless of what party they are from.

Rayner has to go and will be going, I believe she absolutely should have stepped down by now but for some bizarre reason Labour are dragging this out hoping to hoodwink the public. We are not stupid and ultimately this is damaging for them

This!!! Trial by Media (all outlets seem to have their own agenda whether left or right wing etc.) is never good in my opinion...

She won’t go. She would have gone by now . She knows she’s got the left of the party behind her and Starmer knows he needs to try to keep them onside.

Rayner has to go and will be going, I believe she absolutely should have stepped down by now but for some bizarre reason Labour are dragging this out hoping to hoodwink the public. We are not stupid and ultimately this is damaging for them.

I agree. But KS is now in a very tricky position that two leading female cabinet members are extremely unpopular and the knives are out for them.

Rachel Reeves has yet to deliver her budget which is going to be highly interesting unless she backtracks and increases employee tax etc.
The mishandling of the economy has been just awful and the government is suffering seriously. (Not to mention businesses and the economy.) This latest debacle with AR is the last thing the government needs at this juncture.

Campaign on fairness? Those notions are dead, cannot afford them anymore.

Labour are the party of the working people. All people who need to work for a living. That is most of us, regardless of old fashioned notions of class that some like to cling on to. They just have not communicated it well enough until now nor have they led properly.

Also speaking for myself I am a Labour party member and have been for many years

I expect better from Labour, not for them to be perfect, or to agree with every policy they make but I do expect the most senior of the party to be of high standing and to not make such questionable decisions and doge paying tax

If all you had to do to avoid paying additional rate SDLT on a second home was put your primary home in a trust for your kids (and split your time between first home and second), its hard to see any second home owners not using that loophole. It’s too good to be true for average person accountable to HMRC let alone the Housing Minister

I agree.

But they lost me (long time Labour supporter) after Starmer made loads of promises to get elected leader of the Labour Party and then immediately, back tracked. When someone shows you who they really are believe it! Also as much as did not think Corbyn was a good leader - the way the Parliamentary Party dealt with him - they're all so hypocritical. It feels like there are very few Labour Party Politicians who I think of that can't be called out for lacking integrity.

Sure but is it ignorance on her part (let’s not forget she does not even have A levels, let alone a university degree) or is it ethics (deliberate and reckless dodging). Surely the former in a democracy is fine, you do not need to pass an IQ test to lead. Just look at Farage - the man does not even have A levels despite all the advantages on a plate via going to Dulwich College. And yet some segments of the public love him.

So glad we cleared that up, Rayner NOT under investigation for tax evasion....

Always good to get the facts rather than your version of them.

Public perception isn't the court of law fortunately.

Aside, Rayners flat vandalised with graffiti, more than a few suspects on here!!!

Public perception will decide whether Rayner's 'career' ends now. Evading tax is exactly what she has done, whether there is an official investigation or not.