ANGLEA Rayner has returned to the cabinet as housing secretary, her old job, despite resigning over a tax mistake – with financial and property experts warning it is a “slap in the face to anyone who plays by the rules”.
Andy Burnham was confirmed as Prime Minister yesterday and, as well as announcing he is removing VAT from domestic electricity bills from October, he appointed his new cabinet including Rayner.
Rayner stood down as deputy prime minister and housing secretary in September 2025 after admitting she underpaid stamp duty on her £800,000 flat in Hove, East Sussex.
She resolved her tax affairs with HMRC in May this year following an investigation, settling £40,000 in unpaid stamp duty.
The MP for Ashton-under-Lyne said she had been “exonerated” of the accusation she had “deliberately sought to avoid tax” in a statement earlier this year.
Property and financial experts warned that this appointment sends out the wrong message.
Slap in the face
Craig Fish, Director at Lodestone Mortgages, said: “This feels like a slap in the face to anyone who plays by the rules. She resigned over an underpaid stamp duty bill on her own home, then gets handed back the exact department that writes housing and stamp duty policy. The message that sends is that a mistake with your own tax affairs is no barrier to running the system for everyone else.
“On the positive side, she knows the brief inside out and there’s no learning curve, which matters given how urgent housing reform is. On the negative side is trust. Credibility in this role depends on the public believing the person setting housing tax policy has clean hands of their own. If the PM wanted to show a fresh start, this was the wrong appointment to prove it.”
Anita Wright, Chartered Financial Planner at Ribble Wealth Management, said voters could look negatively on the appointment.
She added: “There’s a lovely phrase called moral hazard. It describes what happens when the people making the decisions face none of the consequences of getting them wrong. Rayner’s return to the very job she resigned from, barely 10 months after underpaying tax on a flat most of the country can only dream of owning, is moral hazard in a sash and rosette.
“She was exonerated, we’re told, having quietly settled the £40,000 she somehow hadn’t paid. For the rest of us, HMRC rarely offers a quiet word and a clean slate. The problem isn’t that people make mistakes, it’s that at the top, mistakes have stopped costing anything. Voters notice these things. They always do. Usually at the worst possible moment for those who assumed they wouldn’t.”
HMRC does not shrug
Harvey Dhillon, Founder & CEO at Zmartly, said Rayner’s appointment is “a two-tier message about tax”.
He added: “Here is the part that should trouble every taxpayer. When an ordinary person underpays stamp duty by mistake, HMRC does not shrug. Interest runs at 7.75%, and a careless error can carry a penalty of up to 30% of the tax on top.
“’I did not understand the rules’ is not accepted as a reasonable excuse from a first-time buyer or a small landlord. Yet the same sort of error, settled after the fact, is no barrier to returning to a top cabinet job inside a year. Whatever you think of the politics, that is a two-tier message about tax. An honest mistake costs an ordinary person a penalty and a stressful year with HMRC. For a minister it was a pause on the way back to government.”
Rohit Kohli, Director at The Mortgage Stop, said it is a “double standard”.
He added: “Rayner resigned over a stamp duty error on an £800,000 property. Now she’s housing secretary. If a mortgage broker, solicitor – or frankly any ordinary person – made the same mistake, the consequences would look very different. There’s no quiet settlement and a return to the top job for most people.
“The double standard is glaring, and it’s an insult to everyone in the property industry who is held to a far higher standard than politicians appear to be. This looks like loyalty being rewarded, not competence being recognised and sets a poor tone for the promised change Burnham claimed he was bringing.”
Burnham’s first mistake
Michelle Lawson, Director at Lawson Financial, said the decision is wrong to appoint her.
She added: “This is Burnham’s first mistake already. The message that this gives is that you can make an error and still get a top job. Housing needs someone who can take positive action.”
Graham Nicoll, Financial Planner, Chartered FCSI at NCL Wealth Partners, said: “Rayner’s return feels more like a reward for party loyalty than a fresh start. It’s disappointing when the Prime Minister has spoken about a new era and made sweeping cabinet changes elsewhere.
“While she has experience in the brief, the appointment risks sending the wrong message on accountability and may not reflect wider public sentiment or rebuild trust.”
Angela Rayner released a statement in May this year saying she had “set out to pay the correct amount of tax”.
She said at the time: “I welcome HMRC’s conclusion, which has cleared me of any wrongdoing. I have been exonerated by HMRC of the accusation that I deliberately sought to avoid tax. When purchasing a home of my own with a mortgage, I did not own any other property and had no personal financial interest in the court-instructed trust set up to manage my son’s financial award. I was advised by experts that I should pay stamp duty at the standard rate.
“I set out to pay the correct amount of tax. I took reasonable care and acted in good faith, based on the expert advice I received, and HMRC has accepted this. I have always sought to act with integrity, and I believe politicians should be held to high standards – that is why I resigned from government and cooperated fully with HMRC. I wanted to ensure that I paid every penny that I owed, and have done so. I am relieved that my family can now move on – and that I can get on with my job.”
