A resident has paid for the clean-up of graffiti outside Angela Rayner’s flat in Hove, according to the Brighton and Hove City Council.
The graffiti calling Ms Rayner a “tax evader” and a “b****” appeared on a white wall outside her £800,000 seaside property on Thursday after she admitted she did not pay the right amount of stamp duty when she bought it.
Across the road, “tax evader Rayner” and “Rayner tax avoidance” were graffitied on a construction chipboard.
It was initially scheduled to be cleared away by workers from the local council on Thursday afternoon, but they withdrew after complaints from locals about how quickly the clean-up was happening compared to similar vandalism across the city.
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On Friday, a council spokesperson said: “Due to security concerns, and in line with our policy of removal of offensive graffiti, we have removed graffiti reported in Hove. This has been paid for by a resident.”
Sussex Police said it was treating the matter as criminal damage and that it was speaking to Ms Rayner to “address any further concerns”.
Ms Rayner, who resigned as deputy prime minister, housing secretary and deputy Labour leader on Friday, condemned the graffiti, with her spokesperson calling it “totally unjustifiable” and “a matter for the police”.
“Neither Angela nor her neighbours deserve to be subjected to harassment and intimidation,” they added.
“It will rightly be a matter for the police to take action as they deem appropriate.”
Sir Keir Starmer’s spokesperson said the prime minister “condemns this vandalism in the strongest possible terms.
“Whatever scrutiny our parliamentarians may face, it is appalling that their private homes should be targeted in this way,” they said.
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MP for Hove and Portslade, Peter Kyle, who was made Business and Trade Secretary in Sir Keir’s cabinet reshuffle on Friday, said: “I’m really disappointed that the heritage wall has been defaced over this issue. Hove is better than this.
“There are many, many ways people can express their anger and disappointment in Angela Rayner, including reporting her to the Commissioner for Standards. But defacing a wall is not one of those ways.”
How Rayner has addressed stamp duty controversy
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Scrutiny over Ms Rayner’s finances began when The Daily Telegraph claimed she avoided £40,000 in stamp duty on her flat in Hove by removing her name from the deeds of another property in Greater Manchester.
In a lengthy statement released on Wednesday, she said it was a “complex living arrangement” as her first home was sold to a trust following her divorce in 2023 to provide stability for her teenage son, who has lifelong disabilities and is the sole beneficiary of the trust.
The home had been adapted for her son and the sale to the trust was to give him “the security of knowing the home is his”, Ms Rayner said.
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She went on to say that she did not own any other home when she bought the flat in Hove, and her understanding “on advice from lawyers, was that my circumstances meant I was liable for the standard rate of stamp duty”.
She said the allegations in the media led her to seek further advice from a leading tax counsel, who advised that the application of “complex deeming provisions which relate to my son’s trust gives rise to additional stamp duty liabilities”.
In a letter to Sir Keir announcing her resignation, Ms Rayner said she “deeply” regretted her decision to not seek additional specialist tax advice sooner.
