Angela Rayner has been in hot water recently over claims that she didn’t pay the correct amount of tax on the sale of her council house, which she bought under the right to buy scheme. She reportedly made a £48k profit on the sale, and now it is alleged that her ex-husband Mark made even more with the sale of his property, bought under the same scheme.
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Rayner married Mark in 2010 and the pair were together for 10 years. Despite this, the couple claim that for the formative years of their married relationship they lived apart. Here’s everything you need to know about this tax scandal, and about Rayner’s ex Mark.
Mark Rayner under the spotlight
Mark Rayner has now been roped into the ongoing drama surrounding Angela Rayner's sale of her council house in 2015. It turns out that the couple owned two houses, both bought under the same scheme, that they ended up selling. The problem comes from whether they paid the right amount of capital gains tax on these sales. This depends on where their primary residences were.
Rayner owned a property on Vicarage Road that she sold in 2015. Mark, meanwhile, owned a property on Lowndes Lane that he sold in 2016. He reportedly made £134k on the sale. Both sold their homes under the understanding that they were their primary residences, which limited the tax they had to pay.
Now, people are questioning whether that was true as, although Rayner was on the electoral register under her address on Vicarage Road, there is some evidence to suggest that she was really living with her husband and their family. This includes the fact that a loft renovation was carried out at Mark’s house in 2009 that Rayner’s eldest son reportedly moved into.
It is worth noting that Rayner had her first child with Mark in June of that same year, before the pair wed in 2010. Neighbours claim that the family lived together in Mark’s Lowndes Lane property, but Rayner denies this was the case.
This impacts Mark because married couples cannot have two primary residences, for tax reasons. If you sell your only home, you are usually able to get private residence relief (PRR) on the tax you pay from the money gained. However, as there was a period where the couple owned both homes at the same time, Mark shouldn't have been able to get the full amount of that tax relief. That being said, as reported by The Telegraph, if Angela's former husband is liable to pay capital gains tax, the bill will likely only come to about £500.
Angela and Mark’s relationship
All of this property and tax drama has stirred up the past for the couple. Angela first met Mark, who was a union official, through the trade union movement. To support her career, Mark stopped working and looked after the two kids they had together.
The first child they had together, a son, was born prematurely and is registered as blind. His name is Charlie, and Angela once said that when he was born, he ‘looked like a baby sparrow’. The couple went on to have a second son, Jimmy. Angela has another son, Ryan, who she had when she was 16.
Ryan had a child himself in 2017, making Angela a proud grandmother. Being the children of a politician is not always easy - after Angela received a threat from a stranger who said, ‘I know where your kids are’, her children were kitted out with panic buttons and police escorts.
After Mark and Angela’s split was confirmed, Angela went on to date left-wing MP Sam Terry. She once referred to him as her ‘soulmate’ but the pair split in 2023, months after Terry was deselected by the Labour party following a row over an interview he gave from a picket line during train strikes. Before the breakup, Angela stood up for her partner, risking a row with Labour leader Keir Starmer.
Read more:
⋙ Keir Starmer: The Labour leader's first official biography is out now
⋙ Keir Starmer lives a very private life with his wife: Who is Lady Starmer?
⋙ Angela Rayner's bad habit earned her this terrible family nickname
Sources used:
The Sun: LABOUR OF LOVE Who is Angela Rayner’s husband Mark and do they have children?
The Telegraph: Rayner’s husband expanded home before couple married and had second child
The Telegraph: Angela Rayner’s ex-husband ‘made £134,000 from council house sale’
DailyMail: Angela Rayner 'ends relationship with Labour MP Sam Tarry': Deputy leader breaks up with 'soulmate' to start new chapter - months after he was deselected by the party
