Overview
- The Times and Sunday Times reported that Keir Starmer bought a seven‑acre field in 1996 and used a structure that left its value out of his parents’ estates when they died.
- Starmer told the BBC he did not create a trust, saying he gifted the land for his parents’ use and retained legal title for practical reasons.
- Downing Street said a leading tax KC reviewed the matter and concluded there was no underpayment of tax.
- Tax lawyer Dan Neidle described the reported setup as tax‑efficient because it would keep the field outside the estates under inheritance tax rules, though allowances likely meant little or no liability anyway.
- Probate records put his father’s estate at £374,091 in 2018, and the field and adjacent strip later sold for about £320,000 in 2022, as scrutiny of the issue grew at Labour conference and after Starmer’s 2022 apology for late declaration.