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Emma MonkAugust 29, 2025 at 12:09 PM EDT

The desperation by those on the Right to smear Angela Rayner is wearing thin🙄 And no - don’t bother replying UNTIL you’ve read the thread! I’ve trawled through multiple versions of this “story” in the Telegraph and Daily Mail to try and piece together what’s going on! 🧵1/17

So let’s lay out the facts. It is complicated, which is why the RW media can have such a field day throwing around claims and insinuations to make you believe something dodgy has gone on. There is no suggestion she has broken any laws or failed to pay what she needed to pay - and they know that! 2 Ok, let’s look at her property “empire”👍🏼 Rayner owned a home in Ashton-Under-Lyme (her constituency) with her ex-husband until a few months ago, when she removed her name from the deeds. So she no longer owns that home 3/17

She has use of a “grace-and-favour” apartment in Admiralty House - as many ministers do and have done for centuries. She doesn’t own that home either. 4/17

And finally - the flat in Brighton that’s causing all this fuss Yes, she has bought a flat in Brighton No it is not “an addition to her burgeoning property empire”🙄 This is the only property she owns There are 100s of MPs who ACTUALLY own multiple properties Rayner isn’t one of them🤷🏼‍♀️ 5/

But, but what about primary residences and council tax?! Yeh, this is where it gets complicated. And to be clear - the Daily Mail articles cover all this info and are well aware she’s done nothing wrong - but they really want to keep insinuating otherwise… 6/17 The House in Ashton-Under-Lyme is her “primary residence” Her children live there with her ex-husband (who she is in the process of divorcing) and she returns there regularly to share childcare There is no legal obligation to OWN your primary residence. 7/17

She has declared to Brighton and Hove Council that the flat there is a “second home” and is paying the requisite “second home premium” on council tax. As she should do. No tax-dodging there. 8/17

So why is she being accused of “tax-dodging”? Because when she bought the flat in Brighton - at a time where she did NOT own any other property - she only paid the Stamp duty she was required to pay.😱 9/17 Yup! The “dodged £40K” is the EXTRA she would have paid IF she owned another property. But she didn’t…..🤷🏼‍♀️ 10/17

As pointed out in the Independent: “In other words, she has chosen not to pay more tax than she has to. Given that most of The Telegraph’s money pages are devoted to providing advice to its readers on how they may do the same, the only difference must be that she is a Labour politician" 11/17

They scream HYPOCRISY at Rayner day in, day out, while completely blinded to their own obscene levels of hypocrisy. She attends an Opera - “Champagne socialist!!” She takes a canoe out in Brighton - “OMG, she’s meant to be a minister” 12/17 You’d think they’d have learned from the weeks and weeks they hounded her about her previous living arrangements, including insisting on multiple POLICE investigations, which all found she’d done nothing wrong. As did the HMRC investigation. 13/17 They really can’t stand a working-class, Northern woman being at the top of British politics. And they will dedicate incredible resources and energy to trying to tear her down. It’s really blimin pathetic. 14/17 There are PLENTY of MPS who never step foot in their constituency - unlike Rayner And there are PLENTY of MPs with vast property Empires - unlike Rayner But she is the one accused of hypocrisy and splashed all over the newspapers If you ever needed proof of our classist and misogynistic society? So to sum up… The “story” is that a working-class, Northern woman (hated by the Right), bought a house, paid the right amount of Stamp Duty, AND declared and paid the additional Council Tax she was required to pay. Yup, that’s it. That’s the story that’s dominated for several days now🙄 16/17 I’m working on something else for this weekend’s Substack, so if you want to sign up to hear about that, please feel free! 😊 open.substack.com 17/17 I changed my mind and decided to write this up as my weekend Substack after all!👍🏼 open.substack.com

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