UK deputy PM Angela Rayner resigns over tax error

London: Britain s deputy prime minister Angela Rayner resigned on Friday after an investigation found she breached the ministerial code by underpaying...

London: Britain's deputy prime minister Angela Rayner resigned on Friday after an investigation found she breached the ministerial code by underpaying on a property tax, in a major blow to Prime Minister Keir Starmer's embattled Labour government.

Rayner, a figurehead among the party's left-wing base, had earlier this week admitted not paying enough of a surcharge on the flat purchase and referred herself to the government's independent ethics adviser.

In a letter to Starmer, ethics chief Laurie Magnus wrote that Rayner had failed to "heed the caution" of legal advice she had received so he considered the "code to have been breached".

"I accept that I did not meet the highest standards," Rayner wrote in her resignation letter to Starmer, adding she would also be stepping down as housing minister and deputy leader of the Labour Party.

"I deeply regret my decision to not seek additional specialist tax advice," Rayner said, adding she took "full responsiblity for this error".