Rayner resigns for tax underpayment

It was ten years ago that Angela Rayner graced the front page of the Tameside Reporter, becoming Ashton's very first female MP.

Following the results of the 2015 general election, few might have predicted her spectacular rise to prominence and power a decade on.

Many wrote her off, but she defied the odds to become a respected and formidable leading politician.

While in opposition she quickly became Shadow Secretary of State for Education under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership - despite having left school herself with no formal qualifications.

"Who better to speak about education?" he declared publicly.

She became Deputy Leader of the opposition in 2020 and deputised for Keir Starmer during Prime Minister's Questions, going head-to-head with Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak.

By 2023 she was ranked by the New Statesman as the eighth most powerful person in British left-wing politics.

Turn back the clock just a couple of weeks, and she was tipped for the very top.

However, there is always the danger that the higher you rise, inevitably the harder and further you fall.

A misjudgement to seek specialist tax advice - in her own words - over a stamp duty underpayment of £40,000 for a new flat in Hove, East Sussex, proved her downfall. Not least because she was Housing Minister.

She referred herself to the independent adviser on ministerial standards, declaring it was never her intention to underpay. She also pledged to pay any outstanding stamp duty owed on the seaside property, promptly daubed with 'Rayner tax evader' graffiti as the story made national headlines.

In TV interviews she said legal advice she had relied on was incorrect, saying she would cooperate fully with HMRC and any ethics investigation, while she candidly and emotionally explaining her 'complicated' family affairs regarding her divorce, caring for her disabled son, and her living arrangements in Ashton.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer defended her in the House, standing by her and describing her as a 'great story of British success' having come from a 'humble background' and 'battling all sorts of challenges along the way'.

But the opposition smelt political blood and called for her to go. They didn't have long to wait.

She was subsequently found to have broken the ministerial code, although the standards report found "Ms Rayner acted with integrity and with a dedicated and exemplary commitment to public service"

That wasn't enough to save her however as she promptly relinquished her roles as Housing Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and Deputy Leader of the Labour Party.

In a lengthy letter of resignation, she stated: "I have always taken my responsibilities as deputy prime min-ister, secretary of state for housing, communities and local government, as well as a member of parliament with the utmost seriousness. I have long believed that people who serve the British public in government must always observe the highest standards, and while the independent adviser has concluded that I acted in good faith and with honesty and integrity throughout, I accept that I did not meet the highest standards in relation to my recent property purchase.

"I deeply regret my decision to not seek additional specialist tax advice given both my position as housing secretary and my complex family ar-rangements. I take full responsibility for this error. I would like to take this opportunity to repeat that it was never my intention to do anything other than pay the right amount."

She added: "Given the findings, and the impact on my family, I have therefore decided to resign as deputy prime minister and secretary of state for housing, communities and local government, as well as deputy leader of the Labour party.

"For a teenage mum from a council estate in Stockport to serve at the highest level of government has been the honour of my life. The challenges of government are nothing compared to the challenge of putting food on the table and getting a roof over our head when I brought up kids working as a home help. Too many people face the same across our country.

"T've always known that politics changes lives because it changed mine. The last Labour government gave me the tools I needed to build a better life for me and my young son, and that's why I've been working relentlessly from day one in government to do the same for the next generation.

Every day I had in office, I worked to serve working class communities like the one that I grew up in, which are too often overlooked by those in power."

The MP now sits on the backbenches still representing Ashton, while there have been mixed reactions with calls for her to go entirely, but equally strong messages of support.

Is she likely call it a day? Well if the final statement in her letter is anything to go by, then it sounds highly unlikely after she told the PM: "Thank you for your leadership and for your friendship. I will continue to serve you, our country and the party and movement I love in the weeks, months and years ahead.”