Britain’s deputy prime minister resigned on Friday following a tax scandal, throwing Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s administration into political turmoil.
Angela Rayner stepped down from her three senior roles — deputy prime minister, housing secretary, and deputy Labour leader — after Starmer’s ethics adviser found that she had underpaid property tax on a £800,000 apartment purchase.
Her departure puts the center-left party in a difficult spot: Labour is widely expected to raise taxes when it presents the party’s budget in November — a hard sell when senior figures have neglected to do so themselves. The scandal also hands fresh ammunition to Nigel Farage’s far-right Reform Party, which is already leading in the polls.
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