Angela Rayner has been defended by the education secretary amid a deepening row over her new £800k pad
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner is facing criticism over her purchase of a flat in Hove(Image: Lucy North/PA)
A cabinet minister has defended Angela Rayner’s purchase of an £800,000 property on the south coast – insisting ‘if she wants to buy a flat she can buy a flat’.
The Ashton-under-Lyne MP and deputy prime minister has been criticised over her purchase of a luxury flat in Hove, East Sussex, in recent days.
Ms Rayner, who also serves as housing secretary, was criticised for ‘hypocrisy’ given the purchase has come at a time councils have been given power to hike tax on second homes.
The flat had been described as a ‘third home’ for Ms Rayner. Reports claim her main residence is her home in the Ashton-under-Lyne constituency.
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Ms Rayner also has the use of a ‘grace-and-favour’ flat at Admiralty House, in Whitehall, as deputy prime minister – although she does not own the ministerial residence.
Asked whether there is anything hypocritical about the Ms Rayner’s actions, her cabinet colleague Bridget Phillipson insisted she could spend her money how she wished as ‘an adult’.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said any adult can choose how to spend their own money(Image: Lucy North/PA)
The education secretary told Times Radio today (August 31): “If an individual wants to buy a property, whether that individual is Angela Rayner or anybody else, they are entirely within their rights to spend their money as they choose.
“I’ve never gone in for that way of approaching things, that somehow people shouldn’t have that kind of choice.
“My politics is actually about people having more choices over what they do with their own money and their own lives and Angela Rayner, as an adult with a salary, is able to make choices about how she spends her own money.
“She’s an adult, if she wants to buy a flat she can buy a flat. That’s just the top and bottom of it. So long as she’s followed all of the rules and requirements as a part of that, then I don’t think there’s anything more.”
Allies of Ms Rayner claimed last week that she will be using the Hove property as a base while working in London – despite the seaside town being more than 50 miles from Westminster.
The Telegraph reported that the property is not expected to be rented out while Ms Rayner stays at her primary home, in the Ashton-under-Lyne constituency.
It comes as the Treasury introduced a premium on council tax in April, giving authorities the power to charge up to twice the normal rate on second homes.
Angela Rayner(Image: Getty)
In a blog post about the policy after it was introduced, a spokesperson for Ms Rayner’s department, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, said: “Excessive concentrations of second homes in some areas of the country can impact the availability and affordability of homes to buy and rent.
“This can translate into problems for families, public services, and the local economy. We do not think it is right for houses to lie empty while families struggle to find a home.”
Questions have also been raised over the tax affairs surrounding Ms Rayner’s homes in recent days, with the Conservative Party calling for her to face an ethics inquiry on the matter.
Press Association reports Ms Rayner divorced her husband and no longer owns a stake in her Greater Manchester home – but still considers it her primary residence because her children live there.
It has been claimed Ms Rayner saved £40,000 in stamp duty on the Hove flat because it is now the only property she owns
The Mail on Sunday today reports that Ms Rayner split the ownership of her £650,000 constituency home with a trust administered by law firm Shoosmiths.
Commenting on the reports, Ms Phillipson added: “Angela Rayner has been clear that she followed all the rules and requirements of her, that she has followed the rules completely. That is her position, that she has done everything that has been asked of her.”
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But Manchester Labour veteran Graham Stringer, MP for Blackley and Middleton South, admits the row ‘doesn’t look good’ for his party.
He told the Mail on Sunday: “The optics of it, just before a Budget, doesn’t look good. [Ms Rayner] needs to sort that out and be clear that what she’s doing is genuinely in the public interest.”
A spokesperson for Ms Rayner told the Mail on Sunday she had paid her taxes in full and done nothing wrong.