Angela Rayner is facing further fury this afternoon after it was revealed she is set to pocket tens of thousands of pounds from the taxpayer, as a reward for quitting government. Ms Rayner is set to cash in on her decision, as she will receive three months-worth of ministerial salary in compensation payments.
The Tories are now demanding she does not receive any cash, which could be used to pay off the £40,000 tax bill she now owes HMRC. According to the party’s calculations, Ms Rayner could receive a whopping £16,876 from the taxpayer. The money is supposed to be used for helping a departed minister readjust to their basic MP salary.
However the system often comes under huge scrutiny the case of a minister quitting over a scandal.
In July the Labour Party announced it would crackdown on ministerial severance payments, vowing to bar those sacked or forced to quit from claiming a “golden goodbye”.
In 2021 Labour demanded that Matt Hancock be denied his severance payment, also worth £16,000, following his resignation for a Covid scandal.
Then-shadow Housing Secretary Lucy Powell said: “I think most of your viewers would be appalled to think that there’s going to be a severance payment to Matt Hancock in this circumstance.
“I think to find out that he’s now going to get thousands of pounds as some kind of severance redundancy payment – for frankly being caught on the job while he was on the job – I think would be pretty disgusting to most people.”
The Tories’ Alex Burghart says: “Angela Rayner has finally resigned – after Keir Starmer was too weak to remove her, even after her position became totally untenable.
“But it is totally perverse for the British taxpayer, already struggling with the consequences of Labour’s economic mismanagement, to be forced to foot the bill Rayner faces for her unpaid tax and potential fines. There should be no reward for wrongdoing.
“Keir Starmer must immediately strip her of these severance payments or he will confirm once again that it really is one rule for Labour, and one for everyone else.”
Ms Rayner finally quit this lunchtime, after a week of terrible headlines about her tax affairs.
Writing to the PM, Rayner said she accepted she “did not meet the highest standards” when purchasing her property.
“I deeply regret my decision to not seek additional specialist tax advice given both my position as housing secretary and my complex family arrangements,” she said.
Rayner said she took “full responsibility for this error”, adding: “It was never my intention to do anything other than pay the right amount.”