Deputy PM resigns over flat stamp duty underpayment

ANGELA Rayner has resigned from government after Sir Keir Starmer’s ethics adviser found she had breached the ministerial code over her underpayment of stamp duty on a seaside flat.

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Sir Laurie Magnus said she had “acted with integrity’, but failed to “heed the caution” contained within legal advice she received when buying the £800,000 property in Hove.

Ms Rayner's resignation as deputy prime minister, housing secretary and deputy leader of the Labour Party marks a major blow for the Prime Minister.

The outgoing deputy prime minister had referred herself to the standards watchdog for investigation after she admitted she had paid £40,000 less surcharge than she should have done on the purchase in May.

She said she made a mistake based on legal advice she received at the time before consulting a leading counsel, who found she was liable to pay a higher stamp duty rate, following headlines about her tax affairs.