Angela Rayner has refused to hand back a £16,876 payout she pocketed after quitting in a tax scandal, despite waltzing back into the same job. The Housing Secretary was hauled over the coals in her first interview since being reappointed by new Prime Minister Andy Burnham, and flatly ruled out returning the cash.
Resignation and reappointment
Ms Rayner quit as deputy prime minister and housing secretary in September 2025 after admitting she had underpaid tax on her £800,000 flat in Hove. That resignation triggered the large ministerial severance payout of nearly £17,000 in the first place. But on Monday, Mr Burnham brought her back into the housing brief, igniting fury from the Conservatives, who demanded that she hand back the cash.
Rayner's defence
Asked by the BBC whether she would, Ms Rayner said: "No, my severance payment was given to me at the time, I had worked in government for a period of time and then I came out of government for just under a year." The refusal is awkward timing for Ms Rayner, who in 2023 blasted the Conservatives over a "staggering lack of shame" after it emerged former ministers had trousered more than £450,000 in severance between them. She insisted her own criticism came when there was a "revolving door" of ministers returning to government "after 40-odd days".
Tory criticism
The Tories have branded her comeback a case of one rule for Labour and another for everyone else. The party said Ms Rayner had "quit in disgrace and took a £17k payout" last year, adding: "Now she's got her old job back, will she return the cash? Or is it one rule for Labour, and another for everyone else?"
Whitehall rules
Under Whitehall rules, departing ministers are given a lump sum equal to 25% of their annual salary, unless they are over 65 or reappointed within three weeks. Ms Rayner finally settled her tax affairs with HMRC in May, coughing up £40,000 in unpaid stamp duty following an investigation. She insists she was "exonerated" of deliberately dodging tax, telling the BBC: "The situation I went through last year was really difficult, it was difficult for my family, but I felt I'd let people down and I never want to let people down, I want to fight for them."
