Angela Rayner dismisses calls to return her £17k payoff after Burnham brought her back into Cabinet... despite criticising Tories for taking severance

By JAMES TAPSFIELD, UK POLITICAL EDITOR and GREG HEFFER, POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT Published: 15:01, 23 July 2026 | Updated: 15:01, 23 July 2026 Angela Rayner has dismissed calls to return her near-£17,000 payoff after Andy Burnham brought her back into the Cabinet. Ms Rayner has been installed in her old post as Housing Secretary under the new PM, 10 months after quitting over unpaid tax. The Tories have urged her to repay £16,876 she received on her exit, arguing that she demanded the same of Conservative ministers.  Ms Rayner previously said those who retained payoffs were showing 'a staggering lack of shame' when people 'up and down the country are struggling to pay their mortgages and put food on the table'.  But the newly-minted Cabinet minister told BBC Radio 5 Live today that her criticism was in the context of a 'revolving door' where ministers resigned and went 'straight back'. Pressed by presenter Matt Chorley whether she would return the cash, Ms Rayner said: 'No, my severance payment was given to me at the time. I'd worked in government for a period of time, and then I came out of government for just under a year, I think is the timetable, and I'll be delivering in government again.  Angela Rayner has dismissed calls to return her near-£17,000 payoff after Andy Burnham brought her back into the Cabinet 'But on the Conservatives who took their severance, we're talking weeks.  'Some of them were even, you know, a very short period of the time, and I think that chaos and that wider point about delivering for the British people is what we're focused on, is not having that chaos.' Ms Rayner resigned on September 5 last year following her tearful admission that she failed to pay £40,000 in stamp duty on a new flat. Official accounts for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), which were published last week, confirmed Ms Rayner received a £16,876 exit payment for quitting the department. Ms Rayner said she had made a mistake over a 'very niche element' of stamp duty rules. 'I think people have gone over that and I took advice at the time, but on reflection needed extra advice - and you know and that was acknowledged when HMRC vindicated me after their thorough investigation,' she said. Aides have insisted Ms Rayner did not have to pay any penalty to the taxman over the case.  James Cleverly, the shadow housing secretary, said: 'Angela Rayner crusaded against tax avoidance, then avoided tax on her home, tried to cover it up and was forced to resign in disgrace. 'She pocketed a £17,000 reward courtesy of the taxpayer, and now she's got her old job back courtesy of her mate Andy Burnham, who wants to hike taxes on the family home for everyone else. Rayner should hand back the cash. Her reappointment just confirms that there is one rule for Labour, and another for everyone else.' Government ministers are entitled to a severance payment of 25 per cent of their annual salary when they leave office and are not reappointed within three weeks. Ms Rayner's payoff was a quarter of her annual ministerial salary of £67,505, which she was paid in addition to the £98,599 yearly salary she receives for being MP for Ashton-under-Lyne. It is not yet known whether Lucy Powell, the Manchester Central MP who was appointed Education Secretary by Mr Burnham on Monday, accepted a severance payment when she was sacked as Commons Leader by Sir Keir in September last year. John Healey and Wes Streeting are two other returnees to Cabinet under Mr Burnham, with both having quit Sir Keir's administration in recent weeks. Following an update to the ministerial code made by Sir Keir in October last year, those former ministers who are reappointed to a ministerial office within three months are expected to forgo their salary for the period overlapping with the severance payment period. This would apply to both Mr Healey and Mr Streeting if they accepted a severance payment when they quit as defence secretary and health secretary, respectively, under Sir Keir. A further change, made in October 2025 a month after Ms Rayner resigned, states that ministers are expected to waive a severance payment if they have committed a 'serious breach' of the ministerial code. Ms Rayner has been brought back into the political front line by new PM Andy Burnham Official accounts for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), which were published last week, confirmed Ms Rayner received a £16,876 exit payment for quitting the department In a ruling on Ms Rayner's stamp duty row, Sir Laurie Magnus, the PM's independent adviser on ministers' interests, said Ms Rayner breached the code because she failed to meet the 'highest possible standards of proper conduct'. When news of her severance payment later emerged, a spokesman for Ms Rayner said: 'There is a world of difference between making an honest mistake and a severe breach of the ministerial code. 'As the independent ethics adviser's investigation concluded, Angela acted with integrity and an exemplary commitment to public service.'