Rayner consulted three people about flat purchase, BBC understands

Angela Rayner initially consulted three people about the purchase of her £800,000 flat in Hove, which she has admitted to underpaying stamp duty on, the BBC understands.

It is understood that the deputy prime minister consulted one individual experienced in conveyancing and two experts on the law around trusts before the purchase.

However, it is unclear if any of those people were experts in complex tax law and it is not known if they knew about the full details of the trust.

Rayner has denied she tried to dodge the full tax rate on the apartment and blamed the “mistake” on initial legal advice that failed to “properly take account” of the situation.

She has been under mounting pressure in recent weeks after reports emerged she had saved £40,000 in stamp duty on her East Sussex flat by not paying the higher rate reserved for additional home purchases.

She says she acted on the expert advice at the time, but has in recent days learned that arrangements involving her family home in Greater Manchester meant she should have paid a higher rate.

Technology Secretary Peter Kyle told the BBC Sir Keir Starmer continues to have full confidence in Rayner, but he said it will be up to the Independent Adviser on Ministers’ Interests, Sir Laurie Magnus, to decide whether she took appropriate advice.

If precedent is a guide, the investigation by Sir Laurie that may decide Rayner’s future could be done in a matter of days.

Speaking on the BBC’s Newsnight programme, Kyle said he had “full confidence” that the investigation process “will get to the bottom of things” and reassure the public.

Kyle conceded that while mistakes were made, he believed the deputy prime minister acted in good faith by consulting legal advice.

“This is somebody who’s striving to be upfront and do the right thing,” he said.

He added the question would be whether Rayner took enough precautions when making the purchase.

“At the end of the day, people will be looking at Angela based on the outcome of this report and what they want to see is, did she strive to make the right decision?”

“Did she try and avoid scrutiny? No. Did she take legal advice and try and understand the intricacies of the complex family situations she was in and the purchase of a property? Yes,” he said.

Former Tory chief whip Mark Harper told Newsnight he thought Rayner should resign and that “there were a lot of holes” in her story.

Harper said asking ministers to defend her publicly if she knew she might be liable for extra tax would be a breach of the ministerial code.

“Up until yesterday, ministers were going out saying it was all fine. The prime minister on Monday said it was all fine. She must have known at some point before then, because she sought this extra advice, that it wasn’t all fine.”

“So she’s had people going out for her basically not being straight with people and that’s not acceptable,” he added.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch and Reform UK’s Nigel Farage have also called for Rayner’s resignation.

The deputy prime minister said she has contacted His Majesty’s Revenue And Customs (HMRC) to work out the tax she needs to pay and referred herself for investigation by the prime minister’s standards adviser.

The Conservatives have also written to HMRC calling for it to launch its own investigation on whether she tried to evade tax.

If the department decides her actions were careless, Rayner will have a £12,000 penalty to pay on top of the £40,000 tax shortfall.

If her actions are found to be deliberate, then the fine would be 100% of the tax underpaid.

Sean Randall, an independent stamp duty expert, said the key question will be whether Rayner had a reasonable excuse for making the error in the stamp duty.

“It’s not enough just to say that she relied on advice. I think she also needs to explain what it is that she told her lawyer and what advice that she received from her lawyer,” he added.

On Wednesday, Sir Keir stood by his deputy at Prime Minister’s Questions, saying he was “very proud to sit alongside her”.

In a statement, Rayner said she part-funded the purchase of the flat in May by selling her remaining stake in her family home in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, which she shares with her ex-husband and family.

Some of her interest in the home had already been sold following her divorce to a court-instructed trust previously set up to help fund the care for her son, who has lifelong disabilities, she said.

The arrangement had been designed to give him “security of knowing the home is his, allowing him to continue to live in the home he feels safe in,” she added, and was “a standard practice in circumstances like ours”.

But fresh legal advice revealed “complex deeming provisions” in the trust meant she should have paid the higher stamp duty rate on the purchase of the Hove flat, she said.

Rayner acknowledged her “reliance on advice on lawyers” did not take into account all the provisions of the situation.

“I deeply regret the error that has been made. I am committed to resolving this matter fully and providing the transparency that public service demands,” she said.