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.

Do they have any competent, non-corrupt people available?
It seems the tories didn't and so far I've seen nothing to suggest this lot are any better

Fortunate perhaps that Rayner's resigned the lot and saved the angst over what Keir can and cannot do - and about bloody time too

Oh yes there'll be a book, definitely reality TV will beckon too.
Her statement is being read on the news it's extremely long winded and rambling.
Fafo should sum it up.

' it is deeply regrettable that the tax advice was not sought, she breached the code' by the ethics bloke.

Do they have any competent, non-corrupt people available?

I’m trying to think of anyone who fits that description across any of the political parties - there is a real dearth of talent in UK politics at the moment.

Not just the mortgage, she has to find £40000 for the extra stamp duty plus whatever fine HMRC impose. This could be up to 100% of the unpaid amount. And unlikely she'll be able to dip in to the child's trust fund this time.

Oh did she indeed 😡

I sold a small piece of land last year and have to pay CTG. Makes me fume that they can get away with this shit.

anyway I’ve just seen another thread saying that she’s resigned so good riddance.

Oh bloody hell yes! She'll definitely be doing reality shit now 😒

Reeves next 🙏

Even in her leaving sermon she wallows about being northern and a teen dm.

That is no excuse for not realising that when a dc is under 18 they are still legally and financially a parent's responsibility. 'Complex' situation my arse.

👋 🎉 🥂
Reeves next 🤞

Should have just kept it short.

I would imagine she was told to resign
It looks better on the Party and Starmer

Glad she’s gone

So who will take over from her I wonder

It’s all just word salad

Plus the extra £80k from the Trust
Theyll have an obligation to get that back

Everything crossed

The right decision from her, no doubt agreed in advance. Fine. Cue all the crowing here from people who didn’t trouble themselves to read the report.

We have read the report.

Why what is it you’ve seen in the report that makes you feel it helps her out?

There is noting in the report that shows she innocently made a mistake

she choose not to take further advice as advised twice, because she preferred to pay the lower amount of tax

a tax dodger ...

The pp maybe means the bit where it says she allegedly acted with integrity which must be ethics person speak for she didn't know what she was doing.

Despite being in a massively privileged position surrounded with top experts on hand to ask she <for reasons unknown> didn't.

He’s just trying to be a bit kind ahead of what’s coming next.

There isn't a dearth of talent.

This is the usual trope that comes out when there's a scandal.

There's plenty of talent, the problem is that our Facebook News attention spans and the media of the 2020s rewards certain personalities and gives them WAY more coverage than others.

It's why we see Farage get 8 x more coverage than Ed Davey, despite Ed Davey having loads more seats and political party presence than Farage.

If you watch Sky or GB News, then you'll be led to think that only Farage is the person that can cut through and reach people with a message, and the rest are useless.

If you don't, like some of us, then you'll know the reality isn't quite as bad as the "everything is BLEAK!!!" people paint it out to be.

There’s an unknown that emerges from the report’s confirmation that the solicitors consulted made clear that further, specialist advice should be obtained about tax liability…why didn’t she do so?

Charitably, she was busy and rushed over everything. Less charitably, she didn’t want to spend the money on more advisers. Even less charitably, she tried to avoid seeing advice that would cost her a further £40k in tax.

I’m inclined to the charitable view. But she had to go, whatever the answer.

You consider Ed Davey to be “talent”?

(and I say that as someone who voted Lib Dem last time)

I can’t think of one person who stands out as talented, or even particularly competent, amongst any of the current crop of MPs - of any party. Admittedly I don’t know them all, but there must be a lot of people very firmly keeping their light under a bushel.