The controversy over Angela Rayner’s tangled financial affairs deepened today as it emerged that she employed the services of a company which specialised in ‘wealth protection’.
The embattled Deputy Prime Minister – already accused of ‘flipping’ the designation of her main home to limit her liabilities for stamp duty and council tax – split the ownership of her £650,000 constituency home with a trust administered by blue-chip law firm Shoosmiths.
At the time of the deal, in 2023, the company boasted that it had a dedicated ‘wealth protection team’ to help its private clients.
The legal manoeuvre would be consistent with Ms Rayner placing some of the house’s equity in trust for her three children, one of whom has special needs – although the Deputy PM’s office repeatedly declined to answer The Mail on Sunday’s questions about its purpose.
Today, the Tories demanded to know whether the arrangement with the Shoosmiths Trust Corporation offered any inheritance tax advantages for Ms Rayner’s family – a political point heightened by the fact Chancellor Rachel Reeves is reportedly considering raising inheritance tax in her autumn Budget as part of a wider range of ‘wealth taxes’.
