Deputy prime minister and housing minister Angela Rayner has resigned after failing to pay £40,000 stamp duty on a flat in Hove, East Sussex
*UPDATE: Former DEFRA lead Steve Reed is to become housing minister, multiple sources are reporting. Foreign secretary David Lammy will become deputy prime minister and justice secretary, with former home secretary Yvette Cooper taking on the foreign role.*
Earlier this week Angela Rayner referred herself to an ethics investigation after her purchase of an £800,000 seaside flat came under scrutiny.
Prime minister Keir Starmer initially stood by her, but told the BBC on Thursday that he would ‘act on whatever the report is that’s put in front of me’.
Ethics watchdog Sir Laurie Magnus said Angela Rayner had “acted with integrity and with a dedicated and exemplary commitment to public service”, but that she had not properly heeded the warnings of the advice she was given.
Rayner will continue in her role as MP for Ashton-under-Lyne. The loss of Rayner has been seen by many to be a significant dent in Starmer’s government, where Rayner was considered one of the establishment’s most authentic working-class voices.
Questions were raised over paying the correct tax on a recent property purchase
Rayner stated that the Hove flat was her only property, despite spending the majority of her time at her previous home in Ashton. Her stake in the Ashton property was put into a trust established in 2020, which had been set up by courts to manage a payment made towards one of her children after a “deeply personal and distressing incident” as a baby left him with lifelong disabilities.
She was advised that selling her stake in the Ashton home meant that she was not eligible to pay the second property surcharge on the Hove flat. Yesterday, Verrico and Associates- the firm Rayner consulted- insisted its lawyers ‘never’ gave Ms Rayner tax advice and were being made ‘scapegoats’.
Industry voices are already turning their eye to the future housing minister
Lawrence Turner, director of Boyer said:
“Angela Rayner’s planning reforms rightly acknowledged the scale of the Housing Crisis and the urgent need for bold, decisive action. Her resignation must not become an excuse for delay. The new Secretary of State now bears the responsibility to continue to unlock delivery and work to win the support of local authorities to provide the homes and infrastructure communities desperately need.
“For plan-making, continuity here is critical. Local authorities must receive clear assurance from Government that the 30-month local plan timetable remains in place and better guidance on when and how to prepare their new Plans. Without this, plan-making risks stalling at the precise moment when momentum is most needed.
“Secondly, the new SoS must act swiftly to remove two major barriers to housing delivery: nutrient neutrality and water scarcity. While the Nature Restoration Fund announcements were a welcome start, they must be accelerated to provide certainty for developers and local authorities and to have any real impact.
“Thirdly, Planning departments need proper resourcing. Councils should be allowed to retain 100% of planning fees, enabling investment in staffing and the recruitment of new planners to speed up decision-making. In addition, greater urgency is needed behind the delivery of new towns and major growth areas. These strategic projects offer the scale of housing and infrastructure that piecemeal development cannot achieve, but they require more work to increase momentum through direct government support, infrastructure investment, and clear direction to unlock land quickly.
“The new Secretary of State will be judged not by words, but by outcomes. If they can build consensus across local authorities and drive real progress on housing delivery, there remains a genuine opportunity to “turbo-charge” house building within this Parliament.”
William Nichols, regional director of Lanpro said:
“Angela Rayner’s resignation, after last night’s revelations, became inevitable. It is also regrettable: she had been at the forefront of some bold housing and planning policies.
“The immediate question for the industry is who now carries the baton at MHCLG. Matthew Pennycook would be a logical choice – he has shown a strong grasp of the issues and would offer continuity. But continuity is not always what’s needed. This moment could be an opportunity to rethink aspects of policy that have been less successful, particularly the emphasis on local government reorganisation.
“Local government reorganisation may be necessary, but it has distracted attention from housing delivery. In many councils, members and officers facing upheaval have been reluctant to press ahead with local plans when the future geography of their areas is so uncertain A pause here might free ministers to concentrate on what really matters: the growth agenda or local government reorganisation.
“And growth cannot be achieved without better integration of housing and infrastructure. We saw the risks only weeks ago when funding was withdrawn for relocating Cambridge’s sewage works – a move that has already had consequences for the preparation of the Greater Cambridge Local Plan, which has been delayed.
“Angela Rayner’s resignation also offers the opportunity to bring fresh thinking to the housing market, with a particular need for a government incentive scheme for new buyers, to boost demand and to introduce badly needed growth in the economy.
“What is certain is that we are still at the beginning of the growth agenda. Much remains to be done, and the next appointment at MHCLG will be critical in deciding whether the early momentum is sustained or lost.”
Colin Brown, head of Planning & Development, Carter Jonas said:
“I think the industry will want to know that the changes the Government has made to the planning system will remain the focus for the incoming Secretary of State, and that there will be no rowing back. There is no doubt that publication of the revised NPPF in December 2024 and the introduction of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill have been important moments, pointing to a clear change in direction to build the homes the country needs.
“The resignation letter from the former Secretary of State and the response from the Prime Minister indicate this is still central to the Government’s thinking so reassurance can be derived from that. What we would still like to see is the use of more tools to support the demand side for new housing especially with affordability remaining challenging and we hope the new Secretary of State will focus on that, together with continuing better resourcing for local planning authorities.
“Finally, there is a need to ensure that infrastructure provision to support new housing is tackled earlier and at a more regional and national level to ensure that projects are not unnecessarily delayed.”
You can read Angela Rayner’s resignation letter to Keir Starmer in full below:
Dear Keir,
Thank you for the personal and public support you have shown me in recent days. As you know, on Wednesday I referred myself to your Independent Adviser on Ministerial Standards, Sir Laurie Magnus, to conduct a thorough investigation into my personal financial circumstances after I became aware that it is likely I inadvertently paid the incorrect rate for Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT).
I have always taken my responsibilities as Deputy Prime Minister, 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 arrangements. 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.
I must also consider the significant toll that the ongoing pressure of the media is taking on my family. While I rightly expect proper scrutiny on me and my life, my family did not choose to have their private lives interrogated and exposed so publicly. I have been clear throughout this process that my priority has, and always will be, protecting my children and the strain I am putting them under through staying in post has become unbearable.
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 as 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.
I’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. I am proud that in every decision I made, I did it for them. I would never have become Deputy Prime Minister if not for the decisions taken by the last Labour Government, giving me a council house to support me, Sure Start to help raise my kids, and the security of a minimum wage – and I can only hope that the changes I made in government will have the same impact for young girls growing up on council estates like I did.
Through my Employment Rights Bill people across the country will receive the biggest uplift in workers’ rights in a generation. This landmark legislation will be game changing for millions of people stuck in insecure and low-paid work, giving them the dignity and security they don’t just need but also deserve. I am and will remain deeply proud of that legacy. I am so proud to have worked alongside the trade union movement, who have given me everything, to deliver that.
Our Renters’ Rights Bill will finally ban the oppressive rule of no-fault evictions and will reset the balance between renters and landlords through ground breaking protection for renters. Everyone deserves to live in a safe and decent home, and I know this legislation will deliver that for millions of people across the country.
The Planning and Infrastructure Bill will also be instrumental in getting the homes so many people across this country need built, and I am so proud that at the Spending Review we announced the biggest investment in social and affordable housing in a generation with the overwhelming amount of this going to genuinely social rent homes.
And last week, I introduced the English Devolution Bill to Parliament. The largest single package of devolution from any Westminster government to local people across England. This landmark legislation will permanently change the balance of power, giving true control to those with skin in game. We delivered an Elections Strategy which will mean 16 and 17 year olds getting the vote for the first time, as well as ambitious plans to ensure the most marginalised communities are registered to vote. We took steps to stabilise the broken foundations of local government and deliver the first genuinely fair funding review and the first multi-year settlement for a decade.
My department, through my excellent team of Ministers, has also provided the largest ever investment in homelessness prevention services to local authorities, to get Britain back on track to ending homelessness for good. We’ve worked relentlessly to bring an end to the building safety crisis and developed new measures to get peoples’ homes fixed quicker and hold rogue freeholders to account. We’ve also worked to boost community cohesion, tackle hate crime and reset the relationship with faith communities.
I have been lucky to work alongside the most talented group of Ministers who worked with dedication to deliver for working people. I thank Matthew Pennycook, Jim McMahon, Alex Norris, Wajid Khan and Sharon Taylor. I too am grateful to my brilliant parliamentary team, Harpreet Uppal, Mark Ferguson, and Gen Kitchen.
For me, being in office is the chance to change the lives of the people I grew up alongside. I will do whatever I can to continue doing so.
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.
Yours sincerely,The Rt. Hon. Angela Rayner MP
Representing Ashton-under-Lyne, Audenshaw, Droylsden and Dukinfield
Deputy Prime Minister, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government
