Keir Starmer has refused to confirm that he would sack Angela Rayner as housing secretary – and deputy PM- even if the government’s ethics adviser finds that she has broken the ministerial code.
In an interview with the BBC, Starmer said he would “make a decision on what I see” in a report expected to be published as soon as tomorrow after he was asked whether Rayner’s position was tenable following her admission that she underpaid stamp duty.
The prime minister – who declined to be drawn on his deputy’s future when asked five times by the BBC – said he would reach a decision after the ethics watchdog Sir Laurie Magnus writes up his report on the ordeal.
“I do think in the end we need to establish the facts, which the independent advisor will do and come to a conclusion,” Starmer said.
“Angela Rayner took advice when she was doing the conveyancing. She’s subsequently taken other advice. She then referred herself to the independent advisor. That’s the way the process should work.
“I don’t think it’ll take long now for that bit of a process to conclude. And then of course it does fall to me to make a decision based on what I see in that report.”
His comments bring the impending report into sharper focus, with details of potential wrongdoing set to be key to Starmer’s final judgement.
Rayner’s tax blunder
Questions remain over the exact order of events; Rayner claims to have been given erroneous tax advice offered by three experts which was subsequently corrected by a leading KC.
Starmer’s spokesman said on Thursday morning the PM was aware Rayner had approached a leading lawyer for further advice on her tax payment dealings last Friday despite denials against newspaper reports that she may have broken rules.
The prime minister himself told the BBC that he only became aware of final advice stating she had underpaid stamp duty on Wednesday morning, hours before Rayner’s broadcast interviews.
Asked whether he was “sounding like Boris Johnson” by avoiding the BBC’s questions on whether he would sack Rayner, Starmer said he wanted to see the ethics watchdog’s report before making a call.
“I strengthened the code and the role of the independent adviser,” Starmer said.
“Secondly, I insist that if there’s any issue, any minister refers themselves to the process.”
The Tories have called for the prime minister to sack Rayner, echoing Labour’s own words when it was in opposition: “It is one rule for them and one rule for us”.
Probes into the housing secretary come as Rachel Reeves is widely expected to reform property taxes at the Autumn Budget, which are typically unpopular with electorates.
Reports have suggested Reeves could replace the stamp duty with a levy on properties worth over £500,000.
Changes could come as the Chancellor looks to restore her £9.9bn headroom amid a bleak fiscal forecast by the watchdog, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).