The Prime Minister has confirmed he is prepared to sack Angela Rayner should a standards investigation find that she has broken the ministerial code.
This comes as she is under fire for paying £40,000 less stamp duty on her £800,000 home in Hove and Sir Keir Starmer said the final decision “falls on him.”
Starmer and the Chancellor Rachel Reeves have publicly announced their support for Rayner, Rachel Reeves said she has “full confidence” in the Housing Secretary and said she had “tried to do the right thing.”
Starmer’s independent adviser on ministerial standards, Sir Laurie Magnus is expected to publish his report on Rayner on Friday.
Starmer said, “We need to establish the facts and come to a conclusion.
“Obviously, I will look very carefully at whatever report he puts in front of me… and then of course I will act.”
Government insiders have warned they are not so sure her job is safe, one MP told the i Paper, “Yesterday, I thought she would be fine, today I think things are slipping.
I just don’t see how she can stay in charge of housing.”
Another said, “At the moment, two points of view can co-exist; you can think she’s still an asset because she’s working class and a victim of the Mail and Telegraph snobbishness.
“On the other hand, you can also think Keir is going to find it hard to keep her at housing whatever the outcome tomorrow.
This might change tomorrow, but right now there is a distinction.
Some people may be privately saying they think she can’t survive, but no one is gathering in corners actively saying she should go.
Rayner has openly blamed the “legal advice” she received to not pay the extra £40,000 tax bill, but solicitors for Rayner said they have not given her any tax advice.
Joanna Verrico, the managing director of small family-run firm Verrico & Associates, told The Telegraph, “We did not – and never have – given tax or trust advice.
It’s something we always refer our clients to an accountant or tax expert for.
“We probably are being made scapegoats for all this.”
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