Rayner-I know people will think “she would say that, wouldn’t she…”

[CurlewKate]

But this is interesting, I think.https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/electoral-dysfunction/id1613562765?i=1000724779867

This whole thing baffles me. First off, I assume Ms Rayner will be lodging a claim with her specialist tax adviser's liability insurance for giving factually inaccurate advice on the rules, which are clearly laid out in publicly-available HMRC manuals.

Second, I remain deeply curious as to how she got a £640k mortgage in the first place, even with a £160k deposit. She may be a minister but she's not paid THAT well (at least in terms of official salary for mortgage purposes, I have no idea of what she makes on the side)

I was also wondering about the mortgage. Her salary won't cover that surely?

She gets around £160,000 as an MP and deputy leader. Thats enough to get that mortgage.

Whether she can confidently say she'll be on that salary for a long time, is another thing.

Her advisers will likely have covered themselves by making her sign a document saying that the information she provided was accurate regards the intended usage of the property. There is a calculator on the gov.uk website she could have checked herself without the need to pay for advice.

If she had used a government calculator and not paid for advice, I’m sure she would have been criticised for “cutting corners, not getting proper advice, after all she can afford it…”

Also - I would imagine the calculators have similar disclaimers for “non standard” situations.

There were a couple of long running threads from a poster where the outcome of the CSA calculator indicated she was owed CM when it was pretty clear to all on the thread that she was not.

She’s admitted it now, that she didn’t pay whay she should have, the whole thing is really unpleasant, inc the use of her child’s pay out, but then so is the free clothes, use of a flat and holidays that Labour and their spouses have been lining their pockets with since day 1. Seems they are all standing behind her now too, it’s jist so bad, the economy is in a shocking state, they are taxing the arse off of people and basically stuffing their pockets at the same time. I don’t think anyone could have guessed just how distasteful it would be. I’ve seen some shit behaviour from politicians in my time, but this on the take behaviour from Labour is the worst I’ve witnessed.

Why is it unpleasant for her and her husband to use the medical compensation payment to ensure housing was in place and in trust for their child?

Anyway, I imagine this thread will go round in circles so I will leave it there.

She’s claimed to have sought advice from ‘three people’ not using a calculator.

Apparently it was bad advice from them, this is very unlikely and more likely to be a lie.

A quick google and it’s very clear that even houses held in trust count for the purposes of second home stamp duty.

I'm sure she knew exactly what she was doing. Unfortunately, she got caught.

What’s unpleasant about parents ensuring that their disabled child has a secure home?

😂😂😂

I am so not a supporter of Labour, but this is the worst you've ever witnessed? You must be very young then, because Boris Johnson managed more scandals and fuck-ups on his own than the Labour front bench all together.

But then Tories would prefer that all that was forgotten. And then there's Kemi's apparent economy with the truth:
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/sep/01/politicians-urge-badenoch-to-come-clean-after-doubts-cast-on-us-medical-school-claim
or her bullying (and not the only allegations of bullying either)
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/jul/30/kemi-badenoch-accused-of-bullying-and-traumatising-staff

How about using the sad and unfortunate fact of having a disabled child as some form of justification for tax avoidance.

Which for the record she has admitted not paying the correct amount and on which the conveyancing firm she used stating that they didn't give her any tax advice.

Her conveyancing solicitor is saying in the Sky report that they didn't advise her on tax and they are being made scapegoats. This will all have to come out still as the press won't leave it alone until they've tested whether what she has said so far is truthful.

Either she knew she was doing the wrong thing and thought “if I’m caught I’ll blame bad advice and get away with it.” In that case she’s a liar and deserves to be sacked.

Or she has such poor judgement that she didn’t know that the advice she obtained was flawed. In that case she’s not a fit person to be Deputy PM or an MP as she must be able to discern what is “good advice” from experts, what is “bad advice” from people pretending to be experts, and what is inadequate advice because she has approached the wrong people or asked the wrong question .

It was only a matter of time before the media found labour’s skeletons in their closets, it’s basically what the media do as soon as any party comes to power.

They did it to the Conservatives too and labour, including Rayner were quick to put the knife in, so what goes around comes around.

i think the media probably have a lot up their sleeves in terms of stories which they will drip feed to get rid of labour, then it will switch onto whoever is next in power.

Basically it seems very few politicians are to be trusted and are in the job for the wrong reasons, which is sad but hardly surprising.

Aged well 😀

Sounds like she used three different advisors to deflect blame if it came out she had paid the wrong amount. ie it was premeditated.

I have placed a property in Trust for my son, but it remains my property to live in until I die.

That’s not quite what you said tho is it? You included in the ‘unpleasantness’ the ‘use of her child’s pay out’ which is different.

That is not unpleasant. It’s a very normal way to use medical compensation for security and future care.

Yep.

But add a subtlety to the second option: must be able to discern the quality of advice as you describe and whilst doing so, must not be tempted into wilful ignorance by her own personal best interests or ideology.

You can make a tax mistake unknowingly, admitting it and paying it back doesn’t mean you did it deliberately 🤷‍♀️
Dh and I went to live in NZ for 6 months as he was doing a locum job at a hospital there. Before we went we asked our accountant who does dh’s tax if Dh needed to pay tax in the UK on his earnings in NZ, as well as paying his NZ tax. Accountant absolutely assured us no we only had to pay NZ tax. Got back to UK after 6 months to a tax bill from hmrc, accountant had talked bollocks 🙄 obviously we paid up immediately, no way had we tried to dodge tax, we are paranoid about getting tax bills right. Needless to say we got a new accountant!

100% - a bit of tax dodging is standard fare for British MPs. The real scandal here is that she's Labour Party, not Tory, and therefore held to a higher moral standard. I like the woman personally, think it's a shame.

@MissyB1

The SDLT calculator on the gov.uk website asks all the questions necessary to correctly calculate the amount of stamp duty to be paid, but relies on the answers given to be truthful.

For a £800K house the figure is £30 if it’s your only property. If the purchase of the £800K means you have 2 or more properties the stamp duty payable is £70K.

This is where AR was untruthful. She attempted to hide the known fact that she had more than one property.