I feel sad about Angela Rayner

[Neededa]

OK, I am left leaning so maybe I am already biased, BUT, I do feel sad that a woman who overcame early issues, who was “proper” working class, who didn’t speak the kings English, but rather with a proper local dialect, and achieved a high office without a single spoon in her working class mouth, has gone.

i do understand that many people will agree with what has happened. I would have been fuming if the story played out the way it had as a different party, and I understand that Angela had to go, BUT as a woman who believes in holding up other women, particularly those who aren’t born to certain families, or have expectations placed on them from word go, I do feel a bit sad this morning.

There was a working class woman in the House of Commons. A working class woman was the deputy prime minister of this country. It is not even 100 years since working class women could vote. I feel sad.

My husband has an important job. He always tells me to not make any mistake in the public sphere because if the DM finds out we are fucked. She should have known much much better and had the tools at her disposal to do the right thing. The information is on the govt website fgs.

And enough with ‘but the Tories did worse’. This government came up saying that stuff like this would not be tolerated.

It’s so tragic 🥲 RIP Big Ange you was a proper legend.

It cost me £350 to get a specialist opinion from a specialist tax advisor about a complicated SDLT situation, I remember when signing the conveyancer paperwork it specifically states they do not advise/are not held responsible on SDLT amounts due.

As it happens, we didn't need the specialist opinion as my understanding from simply reading the GOV.uk info was actually correct but it confirmed this. (So I cant believe she didn't understand it was due)

So I don’t have much sympathy, she could have easily sought a specialist opinion (as she had been advised to!) and in her position it shows a startling lack of foresight & possibly arrogance, that she didnt! Why on earth would you take that chance.

I feel sad too - and disappointed. I thought she would have been more careful to make sure she was paying the right amount. I'm sure she's kicking herself too. Why on earth didn't she do what the conveyances said and take specialist advice? I hope it wasn't because of greed. But now she's given the Conservatives a load of ammunition and made Keir Starmer look stupid.

Maybe, but if you check out her attacking of the opposition when they were in power then she really needed to be whiter than white to survive. She only got what she gave. Once you are in a high level of power you are open to scrutiny. So basically the hypocrisy was from her side too.

I totally agree, surely a former housing secretary would be well aware of the rules and if not, the absolute need to get specialist advice.

She has undone all her years of hard work over something she fundamentally knew was wrong.

The previous Tory government’s misdemeanours do not give Labour carte blanche to get away with such things… if anything they need to be squeaky clean.

So disappointing.

Because you tend to believe that when you tell a professional all the details, they will get it right? How often do people go and seek professional advice on a conveyancing transaction?

No. Your conveyancers should be able to work out the SDLT payable. It’s part of the service. Whether or not they try to cover their arses with flimsy disclaimers is irrelevant.

No, she was told to take tax advice by her property lawyers and she didn't. She was trying to play the system to get away with avoiding tax. With the amount of stamp duty I legally paid last year for my house, I'm fucking raging. She can fuck herself to Kingdom come and deserves everything she gets. I hope she gets a massive fucking fine as well

No, she lied originally about the council house she bought,so as not to pay CGT, she could have paid the £3k and the story would have gone away.. she couldn't decide whether that or the nearby family home was her "permanent place of residence". Then the latest issue. I have bought and sold 9 properties over the years,no conveyancing company or solicitors I have used have given me tax advice..£40k is a huge amount of money.. She used money from her disabled sons trust fund for a deposit on a seaside flat. None of this is compatible with having one of the highest offices in the country.

So because of her background and she is a woman the fact she did something wrong should be ignored, working class woman are not capable of being responsible for their actions?

I don't assume all politicians are corrupt. The idea is bizarre. Why do you?

No.

You cannot cover your arse with a flimsy “seek advice because we might be wrong!”, they were aware of the trust and miscalculated the SDLT.

I feel sad too.

For her to have got where she got from the start she had was nothing short of miraculous. I found her story inspirational, and I am gutted how this has ended for that reason.

I feel sorry for her having lost her job given how far she’s come, however legal advice is NOT the same as tax advice. The solicitors ALWAYS tell people to take tax advice on transactions. In her role she absolutely should have made sure that the tax position on her purchase was straight.

Now she has potentially screwed her political career for the sake of saving £40k. £40k! In the grand scheme of things, if she can afford an £800k flat as a second/third home, this is an immaterial cost which should have been factored in.

Power really does seem to corrupt absolutely, as she clearly thought she’d get away with it.

I guess that’s what I am feeling this morning.
I do understand those of you who believe all politicians are out for themselves but I didn’t feel that about AR.
Maybe I am massively naive, and I know many of you will disagree, but I just felt that despite her problems with communication (a huge problem with this Labour government overall) that she came to politics for the “right reasons”
Angela Rayner, did not go to Oxford with a plan to “go into politics” like Boris Johnson or David Cameron. She came into politics in order to make life better for people like her. Things may have changed since then, but I still feel sad that her leaving the cabinet leaves women less represented.

We do know because it’s referenced in the report, and as it’ turned out it’s pretty much verbatim what you have put!

She didn't take legal advice from a tax advisor which she should have done.

She didn’t take legal advice but tried to blame it on her conveyancing firm.
Not really the actions of a good person was it.

If you’re a white working class woman forget about trying to be an high achiever is the message.

No sympathy from me. Good riddance to the Labour leech! She should have bought a cheaper flat and then she could afford to pay her taxes / stamp duty. She is not the only person in the world who has had had a disadvantaged upbringing / fallen on hard times. She managed to turn it all around but her greed and arrogance led her to fuck up in the most spectacular way. How could she be so stupid? She will try and claw her way back up to the top but she has proven that she cannot be trusted.

Honestly I'm finding it a bit hard to follow. She was told she needed to get specialist tax advice and didn't? Is that right?

Whenever their tax affairs are complex and they have more than one home. Providing they have an iota of common sense and financial understanding which is a pre-requisite for a government minister and the Deputy PM.

Conveyancers are not tax experts.

She is just another greedy politician, in a long line of greedy politicians. She hid behind her working class roots and accent whilst being no different to the rest. Shes worse than a lot of them really because she pretended to be different. She’ll be absolutely fine, these types of people always are, and none of them would feel sad for you in the same situation. I think she knew exactly what she was doing and trying to throw the law firm under the bus shows exactly who she is.