Angela Rayner declines to repay £17,000 severance

Angela Rayner, the newly reinstated Housing Secretary, has dismissed calls to repay a severance payment of 16,876 she received upon resigning from the government last year. Rayner returned to her former cabinet role on Monday, July 20, 2026, after Prime Minister Andy Burnham appointed her to his new administration.

The payment, equivalent to a quarter of her annual ministerial salary, was confirmed in recently published accounts for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. Rayner resigned from her posts as deputy prime minister and housing secretary on September 5, 2025, following an investigation into her tax affairs. She had admitted to underpaying approximately 40,000 in stamp duty on an 800,000 property in Hove, which she said was an honest mistake regarding a niche element of the rules. In May 2026, HM Revenue and Customs concluded its investigation, clearing her of any deliberate wrongdoing or carelessness.

In an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live on Thursday, July 23, Rayner defended her decision to keep the severance. She argued there was a fundamental difference between her situation and that of Conservative ministers she had previously criticized. Rayner...