Angela Rayner’s allies have hit back at James Cleverly, accusing the shadow housing secretary of having “some brass neck” for criticising the deputy prime minister over her council tax arrangements on a property she bought this year.
Rayner acquired the seaside flat in Hove, East Sussex, for more than £700,000. The property is subject to the 100% council tax premium on second homes that was introduced in April, which she now pays in full.
The Tories, including Cleverly, have accused the deputy prime minister of hypocrisy, pointing to her role in pushing through those tax rules and demanding clarity over whether she had been paying the premium and whether she claimed a single-person discount on her Admiralty House flat, the property that came with her ministerial position at the beginning of this year.
Cleverly said: “She has admitted to paying the premium on her flat but she refuses to say whether she has been paying the second-homes premium on Admiralty House since it came into force in April.”
But a Labour source dismissed Cleverly’s criticism as political opportunism and called out his own record as a landlord. “James Cleverly has some brass neck,” a Labour source said. “Unlike him, Angela has never been a landlord or owned a property in London.
“The second homes premium was introduced by the Tory government while James Cleverly was home secretary, and he supported it at every stage. Angela takes her council tax obligations seriously and she meets them in full.”
A source close to Rayner said her housing arrangements reflected her job demands, not tax avoidance. They said the nature of her role meant she had often had to be in and around London for over a decade, but she had always rented a flat for that purpose, adding that she had actually ended the lease on her privately rented flat in London some months ago.
Richard Holden, the shadow transport secretary, also weighed in to the attacks on Rayner, telling LBC: “I’ve got no issue with her doing well for herself at all. I think there are questions around hypocrisy at the moment, when she’s changing some of the tax measures around second home ownership and questions as to where she is delineating as her primary residence.”
Some of Rayner’s allies found Holden’s intervention notable given his previous clashes with Rayner over her personal tax affairs, including his repeated calls for her to clarify historic capital gains tax payments.
It has been pointed out by some privately that Holden voted for the measures allowing councils to double tax on second homes, under the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act, introduced by the Conservatives last year.
Those rules were brought in to force by Rayner’s department in April.
A Labour spokesperson defended the policy, saying: “We said we would introduce new powers for local communities and we have. That’s why councils can opt to add up to 100% to the council tax bills of second homes to help local leaders improve the sustainability of communities.
“We are getting Britain building again after years of failure, pushing a planning bill through in the face of opposition from unelected Lords and landlords.
“We are not in the business of restricting people’s ability to own property, but we’re clear that rights come with responsibilities.”