Rachel Reeves has ‘full confidence’ in Angela Rayner over stamp duty row: UK Politics live

The Home Office has asked the High Court to postpone the hearing of Epping Forest District Council’s legal action against the owner of the Bell Hotel in Epping by six weeks.

The council is taking legal action against Somani Hotels over the use of the Essex hotel as accommodation for asylum seekers and had a temporary injunction granted by the High Court last month overturned by the Court of Appeal on Friday.

A full trial of the claim is scheduled for October, after which an injunction could be issued, but barristers for the Home Office asked the court on Thursday to push the case back by six weeks to allow the council and Somani Hotels to “reflect on the legal position now established by the Court of Appeal”.

Edward Brown KC, for the department, said: “There has been a material change of circumstances since the matter was last before this court.

“The Court of Appeal has set out what the correct position is as a matter of law in relation to the sole planning harm relied upon by Epping (Forest District Council), namely the fact of protest.

“There is no need for a speedy trial because there is no interim injunction in place.”

Conservative politicians have been quick to accuse Angela Rayner and the Labour party of hypocrisy over their defence for the deputy PM despite her stamp duty scandal.

Nadhim Zahawi retweeted on Wednesday a video of Ms Rayner saying she and her children were “distressed” by the latest scandal, asking: “Did you think about my children?”

Ms Rayner led a campaign against Mr Zahawi when he was accused of tax errors, though the figure was considerably more, at around £5 million. It cost Mr Zahawi his job as Tory Party chairman.

Defending Ms Rayner against the accusations of hypocrisy this morning, education secretary Bridget said the case was different from scandals under the previous Conservative government, saying: “What we saw in some of those cases in the past was a lack of scrutiny and a lack of transparency.

“The Deputy Prime Minister has sought to be transparent, has set out in some detail, which has been difficult given that it relates to her family, extensive information.”

The Conservative Party has reiterated it’s calls for deputy prime minister Angela Rayner to resign.

In a post on X, they wrote: “Time to go Angela Rayner.”

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has declined to say whether she thought stamp duty was too complicated, saying it was “incumbent on all of us to try to properly understand the rules”.

Asked whether the row over Angela Rayner’s tax affairs showed stamp duty was too complex, the Chancellor told broadcasters: “Angela tried to do the right thing and, of course, it is incumbent on all of us to try to properly understand the rules, and she is now working to make sure that the correct tax is paid.”

Rachel Reeves said she had “full confidence” in Angela Rayner and described her as a “good friend and colleague”.

She told broadcasters: “Yes, I have full confidence in Angela Rayner. She’s a good friend and a colleague she has accepted the right stamp duty wasn’t paid.

“That was an error, that was a mistake. She is working hard now to rectify that, in contact with HMRC to make sure that the correct tax is paid.

“Anyone that saw Angela’s statement yesterday, saw her interview yesterday, I think will have a lot of sympathy with some of the challenging family circumstances around this, around Angela’s disabled son, but of course, it is right that people pay their right amount of tax.”

She said the “definitive advice” on the Deputy Prime Minister’s stamp duty arrangements came in on Wednesday morning.

Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will open a two-day public inquiry into alleged British complicity in Israel’s war on Gaza today.

The two-day, unofficial inquiry will be live streamed from London and has been designed to look at Britain’s legal responsibilities for what has happened in Gaza over the past nearly two years, including whether the UK provided cover support for Israel and whether the government’s actions match any legal obligations to prevent a genocide.

The United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied territories, Francesca Albanese, and a former Foreign Office whistleblower will give evidence.

While the tribunal holds no official weight, it will be a pain for Sir Keir Starmer as his party seeks to retain the backing of the leftwing and Muslim voters at the next election.

Mr Corbyn is an outspoken champion of the plight of Palestinians and has been a regular at the demonstrations in London.

Bridget Phillipson has declined to say whether Angela Rayner would still be Deputy Prime Minister at Christmas.

Asked whether Ms Rayner would still be in the role, the Education Secretary told LBC she would not “speculate on or pre-judge” the outcome of an investigation by the Prime Minister’s ethics adviser.

She said: “We’ve got a process that’s under way with the independent adviser.

“I’m not going to get into hypotheticals or speculate. I’m sorry to disappoint you. I’m just not going to do it. That process will run its course.”