Angela Rayner stood down from the cupboard seven months in the past after admitting to underpaying stamp responsibility by roughly £40,000 on a flat she bought in Hove.
Angela Rayner, the previous deputy Prime Minister (Picture: Getty)
Angela Rayner is going through mounting criticism after it emerged she has missed almost a 3rd of main parliamentary votes since resigning from the Authorities, fuelling accusations she is neglecting her duties. Evaluation of voting information exhibits the previous deputy prime minister failed to participate in 57 out of 185 key divisions since resigning as housing secretary final September — an absence charge of 30%.
Ms Rayner stood down from the cupboard seven months in the past after admitting to underpaying stamp responsibility by roughly £40,000 on a flat she bought in Hove, East Sussex. Since then, she has voted “aye” 58 instances and “no” 70 instances. The scrutiny, first reported by The Instances, analysed divisions the place at the very least 150 Labour MPs participated to exclude votes the place backbenchers got widespread permission to abstain.
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Her absences span a variety of main legislative moments, together with debates on bus providers, native authorities finance, and border safety. On at the very least 13 separate days, Ms Rayner didn’t seem within the Commons in any respect.
Among the many missed classes have been two second readings — the Sentencing Invoice and the Diego Garcia Army Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Invoice. She was additionally absent for the third studying of the Bus Companies Invoice, the ultimate Commons hurdle earlier than laws progresses to the Lords.
Additional scrutiny exhibits she missed eight votes on the Youngsters’s Wellbeing and Colleges Invoice in March, when at the very least 301 Labour MPs participated in rejecting Lords amendments. She additionally missed 5 votes on the Finance Invoice in January, regardless of Labour turnout in these divisions reaching 320.
March 2026 marked the best variety of missed votes in Ms Rayner’s profession since 2015. She now has the 56th highest absence charge amongst Labour backbenchers in main votes.
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A spokesperson for Ms Rayner defended the document, stating: “These absences have been authorised upfront by the Labour Whips’ Workplace within the correct manner.
“Angela has been slipped and paired on a lot of events on account of her different diary commitments as an MP, which is a traditional association proper throughout the Commons.” It’s understood not one of the missed votes have been on account of paid talking engagements.
Nonetheless, her extracurricular exercise has caught the attention. Whereas skipping votes, Ms Rayner has elevated her profile outdoors Westminster, getting ready a podcast and a memoir.
She earned £19,000 for 5 hours and 45 minutes at a consultancy occasion in February and held a briefing for BNP Paribas workers in March. This has prompted frustration amongst colleagues, given her 2023 declaration on X: “Being an MP isn’t a second job. It’s the job.”
The scrutiny comes as Labour braces for a “cataclysmic” Might, with one senior MP warning that “the may of Labour in Better Manchester is about to get a kicking” from Reform UK in areas like Tameside and Wigan.
Whereas allies recommend Ms Rayner is “positioning” herself for a possible management opening ought to Sir Keir Starmer falter, others view the continuing HMRC investigation and her parliamentary document as important vulnerabilities.
One MP famous: “The pitch will probably be well-rolled. Might goes to be cataclysmic. We’re shedding votes all over the place, to everybody.
“However not one of the potential replacements are with out their questions and Angela isn’t any exception whereas the HMRC investigation drags on.” As stress builds each inside and out of doors Westminster, her voting document is prone to stay a focus within the weeks forward.
Categorical.co.o.uk has contacted Ms Rayner’s workplace for remark.
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