Angela Rayner has compounded her scandal nightmare after it was revealed she accepted £1,100 in free tickets just days before her flat tax scandal emerged. According to her register of interests, Ms Rayner pocketed the costly gift to Brighton pride, as she settled into her new town.
The tickets were provided by BN1 Events, and registered just one day before the first reports emerged of her new pad in the same coastal resort. Ms Rayner’s decision to accept the tickets raises further questions about the top Labour minister’s political judgement, given her prominent involvement in last year’s freebiegate scandal. Alongside Sir Keir, the Housing minister was heavily implicated in the row about free gifts for senior Labour minister.
A Tory source said: “Another day, another freebie from this sleaze and scandal-ridden Labour government.
“It’s one rule for them and another for everyone else. While people across the country struggle with the rising cost of living thanks to Rachel Reeves, Labour Cabinet ministers like Angela Rayner are sticking two fingers up to them.”
Ms Rayner was revealed to have been given £3,550-worth of ‘work clothes’ by Lord Alli, the Labour donor, registering the eye-watering gift as a “donation in kind for undertaking parliamentary duties”.
In November she finally disclosed that they were work-related clothes used “while undertaking my duties”.
Ms Rayner also pocketed £836-worth of gifts for a spot in a DJ booth in Ibiza, and six tickets to see Taylor Swift in concert at Wembley.
She did not repay any of the donations, unlike Sir Keir Starmer who paid back more than £6,000 worth of gifts and hospitality.
However following the months-long row, Ms Rayner, Sir Keir and Rachel Reeves vowed to no longer accept donations of clothing.
It was also revealed that Lord Alli gave Ms Rayner use of his luxury flat in New York along with her boyfriend Sam Tarry, a Labour MP at the time.
She insisted she had not broken any rules by not declaring Mr Tarry’s stay at the flat.
She added: “I get that people are frustrated, in particular the circumstances that we’re in, but donations for gifts and hospitality and monetary donations have been a feature of our politics for a very long time.
“People can look it up and see what people have had donations for, and the transparency is really important.”
Ms Rayner’s career hangs by a thread this morning after she confessed to not paying the full amount of stamp duty owed on her £800,000 seaside flat in Hove.
She has referred herself to the PM’s ethics adviser and confirmed she will pay as much as £40,000 in owed taxes.
After weeks of her allies insisted she had done nothing wrong, Ms Rayner finally owned up in a highly emotional interview yesterday.
At PMQs, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch called on Keir Starmer to ‘grow a backbone’ and “sack her”.
The Deputy Prime Minister’s office was approached for comment.