OPINION

Angela Rayner is facing an investigation for underpaying stamp duty on her Hove flat (Image: Getty)

Angela, if you wanted to cry about being a tax-avoiding hypocrite, perhaps you should have done it in one of your three homes. Did the same dodgy adviser who said you were fine to avoid £40k of stamp duty also suggest you try a teary apology to deflect blame? You can’t cry your way out of this one. The Deputy PM isn’t the first to avoid tax, and she won’t be the last – but Labour’s secretary of state for housing doing so while raising everyone else’s taxes is almost laughable.

Perhaps Rayner should take her own advice from two years ago, when she demanded a senior Tory resign over his tax affairs. On her X feed, still there today, she wrote: “Nadhim Zahawi’s story about his tax affairs doesn’t add up. After months of denials, the truth emerges. His position is untenable. Rishi Sunak must dismiss him from his Cabinet.”

Angela Rayner sold her 25% stake in her Greater Manchester home for £162,500 (Image: Getty)

Well, in your own words, Rayner, your position is untenable too.

However, this scandal shouldn’t come as a shock. The warning signs have been there.

Just last month, the Homelessness Minister effectively made people homeless. Rushanara Ali resigned after evicting tenants from a property she owns, only to re-let it weeks later for £700 more a month. She walked away without an apology, claiming she had simply “followed all the relevant legal requirements.” (Who exactly is advising these Labour ministers?)

Then there’s Chancellor Rachel Reeves – responsible for the nation’s finances – who couldn’t even get her own CV straight, exaggerating her time at the Bank of England, and later faced questions over expenses claims during her Halifax Bank days.

And now, the Housing Secretary has been caught dodging tax on one of her homes.

Even within her party, support seems to be waning. Bridget Phillipson refused to say whether Rayner would still be Deputy PM by Christmas: “I’m not going to get into hypotheticals or speculate. I’m sorry to disappoint you. I’m just not going to do it. That process will run its course.”

Rayner herself admitted she’s considered “packing it all in.” I’d say that’s the best idea she’s had in a long time.