British Deputy PM Rayner resigns after admitting underpaying tax

British Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner will leave the government after she admitted to Sky News that she underpaid tax on the purchase of a new home, Report informs.

Sky News has also learned that she will resign as deputy leader of the Labour Party.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer had offered his deputy his full support, saying he was "proud" to work alongside her - but she has now stood down.

Speaking to Sky News on the Electoral Dysfunction podcast on Wednesday, the deputy prime minister said that she received incorrect legal advice, leading her to pay less stamp duty on the new property than she actually owes.

Rayner explained that her son, who is disabled, received a financial award and had a trust set up in 2020, and that when she and her now ex-husband divorced in 2023, some of their interest in the property was transferred to that trust.

She said in January of this year, she sold her remaining stake in the family home to her son's trust, and used that money - her "life savings" - to put down the deposit for the new flat near Brighton, and paid the standard stamp duty based on advice from lawyers, but has now been informed that it was incorrect.