Angela Rayner admits she did not pay enough stamp duty on second home and considered resigning

Angela Rayner has admitted she did not pay enough stamp duty on her second home and has considered resigning.

The deputy prime minister said that she has referred herself to the independent adviser on ministerial standards.

Rayner said she had received inaccurate tax advice and had spoken to her family about quitting.

The housing secretary has been under intense pressure over her tax affairs after media reports about her purchase of a flat in Hove.

She was reported to have saved £40,000 in stamp duty on the flat because she removed her name from the deeds of a family property in her Ashton-under-Lyne constituency, meaning the Hove property is the only property she owns.

She told Sky’s Electoral Dysfunction podcast: “I’ve been in shock, really, because I thought I’d done everything properly, and I relied on the advice that I received and I’m devastated because I’ve always upheld the rules and always have felt proud to do that.

“That it is devastating for me and the fact that the reason why those confidential clauses were in place was to protect my son, who, through no fault of his own, he’s vulnerable, he’s got this life-changing, lifelong conditions and I don’t want him or anything to do with his day-to-day life, to be subjected to that level of scrutiny.”