Starmer ‘prepared to sack Rayner’

Sir Keir Starmer has indicated he is prepared to sack Angela Rayner if she has broken the ministerial code.

The Prime Minister vowed to “act on whatever the report is” into Ms Rayner’s tax affairs – but refused five times to guarantee her dismissal.

The Deputy Prime Minister is being investigated by the ethics watchdog after admitting she failed to pay a £40,000 tax bill on the purchase of her seaside holiday home.

On Friday, Sir Laurie Magnus, the independent adviser on ministerial interests, is likely to publish his findings and state whether he believes Ms Rayner has broken the code.

Ms Rayner referred herself to Sir Laurie days after The Telegraph first disclosed she had avoided the extra stamp duty normally applied on a second home.

Last year, Sir Keir updated the ministerial code to put a greater emphasis on the principles of public life and strengthened the terms of reference for the independent adviser.

Asked whether he would sack Ms Rayner if she was found to have breached the code, Sir Keir told the BBC: “Well, Angela Rayner has referred herself to the independent adviser.

“My experience is he will be comprehensive in the report that he gives me. He will be quick, and that’s what I’m expecting. And so I want to let that process take its course.”

On being asked for a second time, he said: “Well, as I say, the right thing is to refer herself to the independent adviser.”

Rejecting comparisons to Boris Johnson, Sir Keir insisted he was not “equivocating” over Ms Rayner’s future and repeatedly pointed out that he had made the code more robust.

He added: “He’s doing his job now and I need to let him finish that job. But this is a million miles away from where we were under Boris Johnson…

“What I’m saying is there’s a clear procedure. I strengthened that procedure. It is now taking place. I am expecting a result pretty quickly.

“I do want it to be comprehensive, as you’d expect. And then of course I will act on whatever the report is that’s put in front of me.”

Sir Keir also admitted he knew Ms Rayner was taking legal advice over her taxes when he gave an interview on Monday in which he said her critics were making a “big mistake”.

He said: “I did know on Monday, but to be clear and to answer your question, I knew on Monday that she’d taken advice previously when she did the conveyance.

“And she was taking further advice, but the actual advice came through on Wednesday morning.”

Earlier on Thursday, Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, told Ms Rayner it was “on all of us” to understand the tax rules.

“Angela tried to do the right thing and, of course, it is incumbent on all of us to try to properly understand the rules, and she is now working to make sure that the correct tax is paid.”

While Ms Reeves said she had “full confidence” in Sir Keir’s deputy, Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, repeatedly refused to say whether Ms Rayner should stay in her post.

[Source: Daily Telegraph]