PM's backing for Rayner

THE Prime Minister has backed Angela Rayner after she admitted underpaying stamp duty on a flat which prompted opposition calls for her to resign.

- 

Sir Keir Starmer said he was “very proud to sit alongside” his deputy at Wednesday's PMQs and said referring herself to the independent ethics adviser was “the right thing to do”.

Ms Rayner, who is also the Housing Secretary, said she had received inaccurate legal advice that led her to underpay tax when buying a flat in Hove in May.

She has been under pressure after media reports claimed she saved £40,000 in stamp duty because she removed her name from the deeds of a family home in her Ashton-under-Lyne constituency, classifying the flat as her only property despite still spending time at the family house.