Prime Minister Keir Starmer (main picture) was defiant yesterday in Parliament after being pressed to say when his former deputy Angela Rayner will pay the outstanding Stamp Duty bill that forced her resignation.

Angela Rayner stood down as Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary in September after admitting newspaper claims that she had underpaid the tax on a new flat.

Rayner declared the flat in Hove, East Sussex, as her main residence even though she also had a family home in Ashton-Under-Lyne near Manchester, where her children live.

Stamp Duty

The Stamp Duty bill on the flat rose from £30,000 to £70,000, leaving her with a bill for £40,000 to pay.

And according to the Daily Telegraph this amount remains unpaid, although she is yet to receive a demand for the money from HMRC.

Will he set a condition that she must pay back the £40,000 in property taxes she avoided?”

Now, in Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch asked Starmer about the bill, and whether Rayner could make a comeback to the Government.

“Will he set a condition that she must pay back the £40,000 in property taxes she avoided? The same property taxes they are very happy to put on everyone else,” she said.

“Will she also return the £17,000 in severance pay?” Badenoch asked.

She started from humble beginnings and fought her way to the very top.”

Starmer replied defiantly saying: “The former Deputy Prime Minister is the biggest social mobility story this country has ever told.

“She started from humble beginnings and fought her way to the very top. I am very proud of everything she has done in politics… and for this Labour Government.”

And Badenoch remarked: “I’ve never heard the Prime Minister speak so highly of people avoiding their taxes.”

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