Steven Swinford@Steven_Swinford
BREAKING:
Angela Rayner tells @PaulBrandITV she has been cleared by HMRC of any wrongdoing over the purchase of her flat in Hove. She has now paid the outstanding £40,000 in stamp duty in full, with no additional financial penalty
She tells ITV HMRC found that she had taken ‘reasonable care’ in the purchase of the flat and did not deliberately avoid paying tax
It potentially clears the way for her to stand in the Labour leadership contest. She has ruled out a pact with Andy Burnham. “No... I’m not doing deals or anything like that.”
“Well, I welcome HMRC's conclusion. And they've said that there wasn't any wrongdoing and that I didn't try to avoid paying tax or I wasn't careless in the way in which I conducted myself at the time when I was in government … I've accepted HMRC's finding and I've never wanted to avoid paying my tax.
“And for me, that was the most distressing thing, is that people felt that I was tax dodging or trying to set up trusts to avoid tax or being careless by not taking the appropriate advice. And HMRC have concluded that that isn't the case.
“I’ve chosen not to tackle HMRC on the ambiguity of the law. I think that's the correct thing to do. I've chosen to pay that additional tax because I never want to not pay my taxes.”