Overview

• Rayner stepped down from government and party roles, including housing secretary and deputy Labour chair, after the findings were delivered on Friday.
• She underpaid land transaction tax on a Hove flat by treating it as a primary residence, with reports putting the shortfall at roughly £40,000 to £50,000.
• The purchase was partly financed via a trust linked to NHS compensation for her disabled son, a structure that left her still deemed an owner of her original home.
• Keir Starmer accepted her resignation and executed a reshuffle, naming David Lammy deputy prime minister and justice secretary, moving Yvette Cooper to foreign secretary, and appointing Shabana Mahmood as home secretary.
• The episode compounds Labour’s political troubles as Reform UK seized on the news at its conference, reinforcing a narrative of a faltering government.