Angela Rayner resigns after stamp-duty breach, cabinet reshuffle

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner resigned on Friday after an independent inquiry found she breached the ministerial code by underpaying stamp duty on an 800,000 pound flat in Hove, a development that has prompted a wider cabinet reshuffle and sharpened political pressure on Prime Minister Keir Starmer ahead of an important autumn budget.

In a letter to Starmer, Rayner said she "take[s] full responsibility for this error" and that the sustained media scrutiny had taken an unbearable toll on her family. The independent adviser on ministers' interests, Sir Laurie Magnus, concluded that although Rayner had "acted with integrity and with a dedicated and exemplary commitment to public service," she had failed to seek specialist tax advice and therefore could not be said to have met the highest standards expected under the code.

Rayner has said she relied on legal advice when she bought the flat in May and that subsequent advice from a leading tax counsel made clear additional liabilities arose because of complex deeming provisions related to a trust established for her son. She has acknowledged she will have to pay more to HM Revenue and Customs. Estimates of the unpaid surcharge...