^ wtf would I be upset - it's 2025, the least you expect from your politicians is the basic ability to avoid paying their taxes. If she couldn't fiddle something as basic/easy as avoiding Stamp Duty, (when Nigel is publicly giving out free lessons), she has no place in politics imo. I'm looking for some competence from my tax avoiders. Nigel seems to fit that bill - and as a bonus he's now doing a nice line in merchandise too.

Nothing wrong with tax avoidance as opposed to evasion and dealing with HMRC regarding trusts and tax is far from simple and straightforward. I signed over PPOA to my wife around five years ago and it has been a nightmare since arguing about CGT and inheritance tax despite tax experts making clear where they have been wrong.

Stamp duty should be more straightforward but I doubt it is as simple as has been made out for a layperson, not excusing her btw but it seems to me she would have known the consequences for a deliberate act being uncovered?

mitolo 07 Sep 25 14:04 
every plumber spark brickie gardener cabbie  etc i have known is a tax-avoider, some have saved themselves huge amounts(landscape gardening is lucrative) but dont hear much criticism of them

Certain caravan dwellers who specialise in driveways…..

Cardinal Scott 07 Sep 25 13:07 
I imagine 2/3rds of the contributors to this thread have not placed a bet on here in last week and/or have £0.00 in their account.


What an absolute tard comment.....Either a IC7 or beginning the transition process. IDIOT

Angela Rayner’s family home was increased in value by more than £150,000 after an “error” by lawyers.

The value of the property in Ashton-under-Lyne was raised from £487,500 to £650,000 in April 2024, official documents seen by The Telegraph show.

Months later, Ms Rayner sold her stake in the home to a trust set up for her disabled son for £162,500 – the same amount as the increase in property price.

The increase in cost meant that their house was worth nearly twice as much as other properties on the street.

The documents emerged just days after Ms Rayner resigned as deputy prime minister and housing secretary after a Telegraph investigation revealed that she had dodged £40,000 in stamp duty.

Her critics said that the latest documents show that she has further questions to answer about her complex property dealings.

The increase in price was made after lawyers from Swiitch, the conveyancing arm of Shoosmiths, the law firm appointed by the court to run the trust for Ms Rayner’s disabled son, wrote to the Land Registry in April 2024.

They apologised for an “original error” that meant the house had been registered at only 75 per cent of its value and formally applied for this higher value to be listed.

The trust was set up after a compensation payout from the NHS in 2020, following difficulties during her son’s birth and subsequent care in 2008.

The increase meant that Ms Rayner’s share was worth £162,500. She subsequently sold it to the trust and used the money to pay the deposit on her £800,000 seaside flat in Hove.

At the time of the valuation error, Ms Rayner was being investigated over questions of whether she paid the correct tax on a former council house she used to own in Stockport. She was later cleared of any wrongdoing.

Ms Rayner has now referred herself to the HMRC over her failure to pay the £70,000 stamp duty that was due on her flat in Hove. She instead paid the lower rate of £30,000.

She quit on Friday after the Government’s independent ethics adviser found she had broken the ministerial code because she had ignored two warnings that she should seek expert advice on the transaction.

The lawyers involved in the purchase of the Hove property, Verrico & Associates, had earlier told The Telegraph that they were being made “scapegoats” by Ms Rayner and had not given her tax advice.

The Telegraph also found that in the past year, no house within a mile of Ms Rayner’s Ashton property has sold for more than £561,000.

There have been 44 property sales on her street in the past five years, the most expensive of which was a three-bedroom, semi-detached home just down the road that sold for £365,000 in 2021 – almost £300,000 less than the value put on her home.

Sources suggested that the true value of the home could be lower than £650,000, though it is understood to be larger than others in the area.

A spokesman for Swiitch said: “At the time of lodging papers with the Land Registry regarding the Ashton-Under-Lyne property, an administrative error was made which bears no wider significance.

“The error was identified, and the matter was resolved satisfactorily with the Land Registry.”

It is understood that the property was valued by an independent qualified surveyor.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/09/07/angela-rayner-ashton-home-increased-stamp-duty-resignation/

certainly don't over inflate the valuation of my property to rinse my disabled child

I do, That's why I knew the real scandal centred around the 'sale' of equity to her child. At least she remains a working class hero (for the champagne socialists currently in mourning).

Only in this case, it's her disabled child's money. Or, was.

There's just no logical reason to sell part of your own house to your own child. Even at the correct market valuation. Unless you're considering evicting them.

Man others are not in charge of housing for the government, or in the government that raised stamp duty.

Forget the stamp duty Cider, you are intimating she did something to disadvantage her son which seems contrary to the fact she set up a trust for him in the first place, do you know the provisions of the trust etc?

Forget the stamp duty Cider, you are intimating she did something to disadvantage her son which seems contrary to the fact she set up a trust for him in the first place, do you know the provisions of the trust etc?


The trust would have been mandatory, with a child being awarded a significant compo. Otherwise dodgy parents might be tempted to spend it on themselves. On the other hand...

If you could come up with a workaround to extract cash from a child's trust to use for yourself, it would be pretty close to this. Inflate your property valuation, to 'sell' it to them (why?), just before they reach the age where they can make their own decisions under the law. The trustees have a lot of questions to answer, I'd say.

Professionals don't just accidently overvalue a property to the tune of £162,500. Doesn't happen. The over valuation just happened to be the same amount being handed over from the child for the down payment on a property he'll have nothing to do with. And the correct stamp duty due on that transaction is evaded by the person in charge of the housing policy for the country.

It's nice to see however that typically raging champagne socialists are now taking much more of an emollient approach

I’m used to being asked to use the tradesman’s entrance! Saves pregnancy!

When they’ve a few Chevies like Red has it’s doing the decent thing! Less family credit payouts the better!

Yeah it’s what happens when you speak with a fork tongue!

Agreed. When you make the rules or can move the goalposts as you see fit nothing will ever be accounted for properly.


Feck em